In this special run of ‘Listed’ features, we get to know the incredible artists playing our upcoming Alt. Escape showcase through a themed list of their top musical picks.   

Next up, luscious, light alt-rockers Heavy Heart generously provide us with their playlist.

Back in January of 2016, Heavy Heart set out to release a new track every month, a project which ended up outlining a year in the life of the band as it happened in a lyrical journey that ranged from depression and melancholia, to witchcraft and mass media. All 12 tracks were collected on vinyl and released as a limited-edition LP titled Keepsake.

This set them up for the release of the set of singles we’ve been gifted with in 2019, which kicked off with the enigmatic ‘Bed Bug’ in January, and more recently ‘Dowsabel’, whose lyrics tell of a bittersweet love affair.

Of course, it is their live show that separates Heavy Heart from the rest. Their passionate, dynamic performances are known for capturing the crowd in a way that makes the venue seem like an enraptured arena, while maintaining the intimate feeling of a club. That being the case, come on down to The Mucky Duck in Brighton on Friday 10^th May and catch Heavy Heart’s set at the stage we’re presenting with our buddies Hand In Hive and CALM!

Of Heavy Heart’s ‘Listed’ theme, frontwoman Anna Vincent said: “Seeing as the feature will be surrounding the Alternative Escape down in Brighton, we thought we'd choose ten tracks about the sea. Hope you enjoy!”

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1. Jeff Buckley – ‘Nightmares by the Sea’

Jeff Buckley is a huge inspiration and I love this song so much. It's from his unfinished second album and here you can hear him moving towards something darker and stormier, wading into the water, somehow foreshadowing his tragic death only a few months later... "Stay with me under the waves, tonight / Be free for once in your life"...



2. Nine Inch Nails – ‘La Mer’

Nine Inch Nails are another incredibly important band for us - I love the way Trent Reznor plays with fragility and power in his music; these moments of beauty and hope glimmering in the bleak, dark wasteland. This track is from their 1999 album The Fragile, and it's such an atmospheric piece. It starts off gently, just a dreamy, hypnotic piano line, but gradually a sense of uneasiness and anxiety builds until this swirling storm comes in from out at sea to completely blot out the blue sky.



3. Led Zeppelin – ‘Down by the Seaside’

From one of my favourite albums ever, 1975's Physical Graffiti.  With its mellow "oohs" and "aahs", shimmery tremolo, and lazy slide guitar, this is one of their most beautiful songs, which transports you to the seaside; breeze in your hair, sun on your skin, cool drink at your elbow. Obviously being Zepp, it also kicks things up halfway through and really rocks out...



4. Yuck – ‘Middle Sea’

I love this Yuck song, from their 2013 album Glow & Behold, and it just makes me long for endless summers and escapism, with its searing, driving riff and gorgeously fuzzy, warm guitars surrounding Max Bloom's beautifully wistful vocal, as he sings "move away across the ocean". We're lucky enough to count Max as one of our dearest friends, and everyone should go and check out his amazing new solo single 'To Be Alone', which just came out.



5. PJ Harvey – ‘A Perfect Day Elise’

Wherever I go, I always come back to PJ Harvey - the darkness, the atmosphere, the stories, the characters. She's written about the sea and the water a lot, but I love the grinding, dirty, dangerous nausea of this song, from 1998's Is This Desire?, which swells into this incredibly beautiful, euphoric chorus. "The water soaked her blonde hair black..."



6. Blur – ‘This Is a Low’

"And into the sea / Goes pretty England and me / Around the bay of Biscay / And back for tea". If there is a more beautifully melancholic, and quintessentially British opening line to a song out there I'd like to hear it. I love Blur and this song for me is one of their greatest - the stormy, crashing waves of guitar and drums underpinning the whole thing, and that soaring solo which leads the whole thing back out to sea...



7. Beach House – ‘On the Sea’

From their amazing 2012 album Bloom, this is just such a beautifully heartfelt and atmospheric track. Beach House are a real inspiration for us, and Victoria Legrand's melodies are just so delicious and nostalgic, and uplifting too. I really admire the way they limit their palette in terms of production and instrumentation, and let the song shine through.



8. Darwin Deez – ‘Deep Sea Divers’

This is such a heartbreaking song. I guess any song about a drowned love, literal or metaphorical, would be. What I admire with Darwin Deez is that the directness and apparent simplicity of the music often belies the tragedy and depth of the lyrics, and it makes for such a stark and effective contrast. This whole record is amazing and listening to this song again makes me want to dive back in.



9. Radiohead – ‘On the Beach’ (Neil Young Cover)

This is Radiohead's cover of Neil Young's song from the 1974 album of the same name. It was hard to decide between the original and the cover, but this is an amazingly stark version of an already magical song, and it really highlights the bleakness of the lyrics and the careworn mood of the piece. There's such despair and defeat in this song, but it's so beautiful as well. For me it feels like being on the beach at the end of a day, at dusk, alone and worn down, looking out to sea and the endless horizon beyond.



10. The Beach Boys – ‘'Til I Die’

I mean, you can't really do a list of songs about the sea without including something by the Beach Boys, and fortunately this is also one of my absolute favourites of theirs from definitely one of the greatest albums of all time, Surf's Up.  It's a hymn really, and it's achingly beautiful - "I'm a cork on the ocean / Floating over the raging sea"... I think we've all felt like that at some point in our lives.



Be sure to catch Heavy Heart at the free Hand In Hive x TMR x CALM Showcase on Friday 10th May at The Mucky Duck in Brighton.

-Dan Peeke