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THE HEAD AND THE HEART
Return to Their Roots & The Greek
September 9, 2025 by Shane Pase
The Head and the Heart are having something of a moment—or maybe they’re just reminding us why they mattered in the first place.
When the Seattle folk-rock band steps onto the stage at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater on September 28th, they’ll be carrying the energy of their strongest album in years, one that feels less like reinvention and more like rediscovery.
Their sixth studio album, “Aperture,” released in May, sounds like a band coming home. After experimenting with big-name producers and chasing industry formulas on their last few records, the six-piece decided to retreat to their own creative space. The result is their first self-produced album since their 2011 debut, and you can hear the difference—raw, collaborative, and deeply rooted in the chemistry that made them stand out in the first place.
“We really wanted to make our next music our own way,” says co-lead singer Jonathan Russell. That intent runs through the record, from its origin story to its finished sound. The opener, “After the Setting Sun,” grew out of an accidental guitar tuning left in Matty Gervais’ home studio. What followed was a wash of layered harmonies, setting the tone for an album that confronts weighty themes but somehow feels lighter and more openhearted than the band has in years.
The band’s recent shows in Berkeley and Sacramento suggest that they’ve found a groove, the kind of live momentum that makes every harmony hit harder.
Longtime fans already know: The Head and the Heart are one of those rare acts that thrive even more on stage than on record. Their voices fill amphitheaters in a way that feels both intimate and communal.
Setlists on this tour weave together “Aperture” tracks and older staples, and the new material more than holds its ground. Songs like “Time With My Sins” and the title track carry an emotional intensity that never tips into heaviness. Instead, they balance heartbreak and hope in the way only this band can—honest but never bleak, uplifting without being saccharine.
The timing of this return to form feels right. At a moment when so much in music is polished to the point of detachment, “Aperture” stands out for its simplicity: six people in a room, working through ideas together, choosing to embrace the imperfect in favor of something real. As Gervais puts it, the record is about “choosing hope again and again, no matter how many times it may feel that you have lost it.”
That’s the kind of sentiment that resonates in a live setting. Expect moments where the crowd becomes part of the chorus, voices rising into the night air, pulled together by songs about resilience, connection, and the slow work of keeping hope alive.
And when the band closes the night with one of their trademark climactic crescendos, it won’t just be about nostalgia or new beginnings—it’ll be a reminder that The Head and the Heart still know how to turn a show into a shared experience.
Don’t hesitate to grab your tickets and be part of the magic on September 28th at The Greek in Los Angeles, or September 29th at Gallagher Square in San Diego.
TO FOLLOW
SID 250906 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
