Coastal - Heartbeats

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Coastal’s Heartbeats has a tremendously deep emotional core that permeates every aspect of the music. The mixture of expressive melodies, beautiful synth layers, Aaron Hetherington’s superb vocal abilities and the impactful songwriting create an album that drives an arrow into my heart. This album keeps drawing me back to it again and again.

All of the melodic content on Heartbeats skilfully weaves together complicated emotions into affecting tapestries. Aaron Hetherington and Jonathan Fletcher work together to write music that has expression at its core and the melodies all dive deep to stimulate the humanity at the centre of the album. I also enjoy the way in which those melodies support the songwriting here.

I am engaged by the way in which Heartbeats explores the sonic palette used within the music. There’s such an auditory feast happening that my ears have an embarrassment of sonic riches to explore. The way synths are used to provide texture and tonal colour complements the lyrical and vocal beauty of the album. When one includes the electric guitar and heartbreakingly emotive sax, the end result is both touching and deeply attractive.

The fusion of first-rate songwriting from Coastal with Aaron Hetherington’s wide ranging, flexible and eloquent voice creates songs that mesmerize and touch the soul. Once again, the coruscating emotional centre of the album comes to the fore, tugging me into the world it creates and holding me in it with ease.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Slow Breeze” starts with a pleasing impression of yearning emotion in the opening synth chords that drift out in broad motion. Crystal chimes trickle through over luxuriant chords as a tangling, nasal-sounding synth shifts. Aaron Hetherington’s robotized voice adds a digitized quality above big, bursting drums and upwelling bass.

The vocals' digital quality creates contrast with the heartbroken lyrics while diamond-lit chimes sparkle and lush synth chords fill the background. Guitar cries out with hurting, twirling notes fading out into quiet.

The narrator speaks of a slow breeze blowing. He’s unable to breathe as the song’s subject’s eyes take him. He asks the other person to, “tell me what you’re thinking, tell me if you’re leaving.”

Our storyteller says the other person’s hands are “steady…ready” and his heart is racing and aching. He goes on to repeat the phrases only adding that his heart is breaking now.

Sharp-edged luminosity pours from twirling arpeggios while unctuous, gruff-edged synth billows to open “Heartbeats.” Punching drums and rumbling bass move below hollow, sparkling synth.

Aaron Hetherington’s voice carries the hopeful melody eloquently through the song supported by the lighter voice below it. Chimes add gossamer shine as the hard-driving drumbeat shapes the song. Aaron Hetherington’s voice leaps upward, exuding moving emotion, while a metallic gleam softly fills twirling synth.

Bass curls around the driving drums before an electric guitar trembles filling me with longing through the uplifting solo. Flaring synth leaps in broken motion above the drums and bass while the vocals arc outward. The song ends on nasal-sounding synth fading away.

This song’s storyteller speaks of falling “in deep with a runaway” as the emotion smashed in with tidal force. He says that they were “lost hearts with a dream and the stars.” He goes on to say that they were only kids and thought that the world was all theirs.

Our narrator asks if the other person will find him and repair him, hoping that she’ll “come and find me and leave this place forever.” He delivers the image of them floating forever on “summer’s fading heartbeat.”

“Like a blinding night in the dead of night” is how the storyteller describes the song’s subject. He says she’s like a “watchtower long from shore” in his mind. He adds that he would “spare time” just to allow her to guide him homeward. The song ends as he speaks of “searching…floating endlessly” for a fading heartbeat.

“Streetlights” starts as radiant synth washes out in clear waves as gargantuan retro drums pound. Sax now comes in, reedy voice evoking an intense need that I find affecting. Aaron Hetherington’s voice touches me with its profound feeling, carrying a melody creating more heartache and need as arpeggios flicker.

The sax’s sound suffuses each musical pore with a chest-clenching pang as the vocals carry the melancholy melody. Medium-high, glistening synth slips past before the sax glides out with its warm voice above the towering drums and gigantic bass.

Xylophone-like notes eddy as wistful piano chords support them. Aaron Hetherington’s full voice rises and a sax solo makes a mournful impact before the song ends on echoing snare drum.

Telling this tale, our narrator wonders if he is “the stone that sank down to the ocean floor?” and if the song’s subject was the tide pulling him toward the shore. He says that “the moments lie’ and the hand for which he reaches was never his to take.

Now the storyteller paints an image of rain pouring down as he stands under the streetlights. It’s after midnight and he sees the other person’s face “in everything they promised I would find.” He asks if the other person will return to find him “one last time.”

He states that the song’s subject was “the cord I followed led back to the wall” that he discovered was never plugged in. He repeats that the moments like and he questions “why the spark we had was never live.”

Subtly swelling bass is touched by distant, digital sounds like a childhood memory of an arcade to begin “Arcades.” The volume grows as all the sounds meld along with sparkling synth stars as unctuous bass waves roll.

Airy space surrounds the music as diffused sax cries out with heart aching emotion. Glittering synth creates a gorgeous feeling, like dust motes in a shaft of sunlight. Aaron Hetherington’s intoxicating voice carries a dreamy, aspiring melody above giant drums and a bass oscillation.

Delicacy characterizes the chiming synth notes as Aaron Hetherington’s touching voice echoes out. The sax floats as broadly glowing synth notes fade into the arcade sounds again.

The teller of this tale begins by saying “I’ve been waiting around my whole damn life” not being able to see and hoping “to find that shred of light.” He says that the song’s subject brought him that light. He adds that he is “enamoured” of what the other person does, even if they make him insane. He points out that he’s “in all the way when I’m with you.”

Our narrator states that he couldn’t forget and wouldn’t ever regret from the first time they met “making eyes in the arcade down on 4th Street that weekend.” He says that the song’s subject told him they loved living in the city but now “something’s changed and it’s time that we get away."

“Forever”commences as far off drums with a widely scattered sound move in along with pastel synth swirls and glittering chimes. Warmly radiant synth carries an uplifting melody before Aaron Hetherington’s clear, emotive voice leaps out carrying an equally positive melody.

Far below, giant drums and dense bass press on with propulsive motion. Aaron Hetherington’s voice is full of deep feeling as the shimmering lead synth spins out the encouraging melody while colossal drums and bass surge forward. Aaron Hetherington’s expressive voice carries the soaring chorus through the music.

The song drifts into a segment in which fragile synth twinkles and heartfelt vocals resonate. Tiny synth sparks float past and heaving drums and bass lend weight to the song. The chorus arcs up again and a guitar flies in, spinning out aching notes. Glistening chimes flicker and fade into silence before the song ends.

Reminiscing, our narrator remembers “drinks in the daytime soaking in summer heat” and spending twilight talking as he and the song’s subject lay on the beach. He felt that the moment might last forever. Now he finds himself wondering how everything got so bad and how his bed “eels so damn cold without you.”

As the sunset and “neon drenched the streets” our storyteller and the other person realized that “a moment’s all we really need.” They felt as if they could go anywhere and after sunset “you will never be alone.”

Now the narrator says that he’ll always wait “under starlight” and through long nights and “even longer years.” He points out that the pain can remain hidden in the shadows through which they once wandered. He wonders if they had been pretending that things felt right or if it was just the summer nights.

Gently radiant synth floats out in easily moving waves that become a steady flow to open “Constellations.” Bass slips up from below medium-high, soft-edged synth as Aaron Hetherington’s voice reaches out. Twinkling synth is driven by an explosion of the drumbeat.

The vocal melody is caressing and enfolding, carried on Aaron Hetherington’s unique, emotive voice. Drums and bass press on with deep muscle as the lambent synth erupts with sunlight. The sax leaps now, effectively capturing every nuance of feeling and need within the song, reedy voice dense with warmth. The echoing vocals fade along with glimmering synth.

The narrator speaks of draining the “river that divides” as he describes himself and the song’s subject as a “burnt out flame that scorched the floor beneath our feet.” He wonders if there’s a path that they hadn’t seen previously from which “we can stay up watching constellations form.” He adds that “these nights” aren’t going to wait.

Our storyteller talks about “a static in my brain” that causes a distortion once more. He points out that the pain he’s experiencing can only be dulled by the other person. He talks about them packing up and leaving the city “to wash out the rain.” He reminds us that at times “things start and lead to nothing.” He concludes, “it’s alright just let this go.”

“Gravity” begins as a vocal sample of an astronaut describing a view of the Earth from space opens the song out above a softly brushing synth wash. Truly colossal bass rumbles below Aaron Hetherington’s touching voice as synth sparks float past. Distant, taut synth creates a smoothly shivering pattern as big drums hit hard and the bass slips past.

Aaron Hetherington’s vocals capture the undisguised yearning in the lyrics as broadly splashing drums shape the music. In the distance, enfolding synth waves wash and the chorus rises with wonderfully heartfelt emotion. Rounded synth notes slide flicker around Aaron Hetherington’s aching voice as it yearns, carrying mingled emotions anticipation and pain.

Lush synth chords fill each musical element with supporting feeling. Guitar flies now, touching me deeply with the power of its expression. A soaring guitar solo leaps free and the vocals rise with affecting feeling. Bells ring and digital-sounding notes echo as the ticking drums fade to silence.

Our storyteller says that he’s struggling to sleep as “shadows loom like a stranger in the dark.” Those shadows have haunted eyes because “they’ve seen who we really are.” He has dreams of seeing the place where “the sun meets the sea” and the song’s subject dreams about "the days where the hours pass like centuries.” There’s a camera flash and the storyteller asks if the other person still loves him.

Now the narrator feels her tugging him toward the light with “a supernova aflame in your eyes” as something tells him to go. While they are being weighed down by gravity, they ‘transcend off the ground.” He wonders what the song’s subject is thinking. He adds that “they say nothing changes, same old place is home” and that the other person is never alone.

Our storyteller speaks of “a flash in the dark fading in the clear sky” and of a feeling lost as years passed and “a lifetime gone.” He asks if the other person still need him. He says that she’s pushing him into the night with “stars burning up in your eyes.” One part of him tells him no and the other urges him to go. Now gravity tugs him down while the song's subject lifts him up. He asks her, “won’t you tell me what you’re thinking?”

A soft golden synth glow is broken by quick pattering sounds as an elevated, diffused arpeggio twirls to kick off “Sleepwalking.” Piano chords give the music an enjoyably warming strength.

Aaron Hetherington’s voice is tender and fragile, emotion filling it as the delicately mournful melody unfolds and solid drums and dense bass shape the music. Percussion wraps around Aaron Hetherington’s hurt and lost voice before guitar flows out in a twangy motion. Circling arpeggios spin as the kick drum thumps like a heartbeat.

Raised, lightly flickering synth slides through in a melody that catches me in the heart-twisting feeling. The chorus calls out with deep power as the hard-hitting drums rebound and Aaron Hetherington’s vocals touch tentatively. The song ends on chords mixing enfolding feeling and majesty as bass growls into quiet.

The teller of this tale talks about his nights spent sleepwalking as “years pass but time locks in.” He says that as he fell away, he thought he was finished. He says that he had “spoken uninformed” and was made a slave to the fading sound.

Our narrator knows that the other person is somewhere there “in focus in the light.” He is resigned to the walls inside him closing to a place “where the shadows trap me in.” He asks the song’s subject to set him free that night. He explains that, “If sleep is a medicine then love is a drug that gives you hope.”

“Red Skies” comes to life as smoothly vibrating synth glides out in shivering waves. Metallic, string-like synth entangles in a dreaming melody. Aaron Hetherington’s vocals reach out with above quickly trembling synth as luscious bass fills the low end.

Smoothly dancing arpeggios flow in a tidal motion and Aaron Hetherington’s vocals hit me in the gut with their raw expression as huge bass with a rough edge growls. Raised

synth suffuses the song with sunlight as the vocals capture need and tenderness,

Entangling synth tumbles and bright notes radiate over the weight growing underneath. Now sax cries out with nostalgic passion. The drumbeat explodes and Aaron Hetherington pours his heart out as arpeggios twirl through and effulgent notes fall silent.

“The road is clear tonight, let’s take a drive” is how the narrator begins as he describes looking back in the rearview mirror to a “still frame up” of what they’d left behind. He says that headlights approach to “bring a glimmer below bright red skies.” There is an image of the tide battering into the shore to “sweep away these wanting eyes.” He wonders if this is what they wanted.

Our storyteller says that the two of them were “strangers searching in the mist” for the feelings they had as children. He adds that they were “drifters trailing in the dark” as everything slowly disintegrated. They came to know that “nothing lasts forever.” He realizes he’s quite unprepared as “life goes strong and things move on.”

Conclusion

Heartbeats is amongst my favourite albums of the year thus far. It has a deeply pleasing mix of emotional intensity, lyrical songwriting and musical beauty as it unfolds. Coastal’s first album made a strong impact on me and it seems that this second album is even more touching for me.