Heaven For Real

Heaven For Real

Energy Bar

Mint

"My life: a slow clap progression, pace rising; to celebrate in the smallest finding - feels right to show admiration that grows," Mark Grundy begins on “Slow Clap”, the first track from Heaven For Real’s sophomore full-length Energy Bar. Formed in 2012, and consisting of songwriter twins Mark and J. Scott Grundy (Quaker Parents) and their frequent collaborators, drummer Nathan Doucet and synth player/percussionist Cher Hann, the Toronto by way of Halifax project has been taking time to shape the follow-up to their 2016 Mint debut, Kill Your Memory. Springboarding from their early 2022 EP, Sweet Rose Green Winter Desk Top Tell This Side Autumn Of The Fighter Hot In A Cool Way, they describe the project as a “living collaboration”, one that strives to compress life’s truths into a distorted reflection of all of its facets. It’s this that drives Energy Bar – a hyper, trash-compacted mosaic of the band ten years that’s simultaneously dreamlike and alive. Recording the album with Jonas Bonnetta at Port William Sound, H4R aimed to cultivate an electrically charged live energy, which they fuse with rich and playful compositions. Tracks like “Lately” and “Energy Bar” are defined by tireless, wired drums, around which are woven buoyant guitar lines, sounding at times like the weirder shades of bands like Meat Puppets, Prefab Sprout and even early Cate Le Bon. Included too are hints of The Feelies, Mdou Moctar, Built To Spill and Cast; Heaven For Real’s approach is an experimental one, yet one unafraid to...

Heaven For Real

Kill Your Memory

Mint

Heaven For Real has been fine-tuning their distinct approach to songwriting since 2012. Kill Your Memory, their Mint debut, is a collection of songs brimming with their idiosyncratic brand of maximalist pop music. Equally enamoured with undeniable melodic hooks as they are with unconventional sounds, Heaven For Real emerges as fully formed left-field masters with the unique ability to turn directions on a dime. Fraternal twin songwriters Mark and Scott Grundy (Quaker Parents /  Monomyth), in tandem with rhythmic partners Cheryl Hann (Old and Weird / Picnicface) and Nathan Doucet (ex-Crosss), spent two years developing their personal musical language. The result of overnight sessions at their local studio (Echo Chamber Audio) and much tinkering out of their Halifax homes, Kill Your Memory marries poetic lyrical narratives with a special blend of experimental rock n’ roll. The album incorporates the adventurousness of jazz and nervous post-punk energy with ornamental touches of tape collage and electronics. Brian Eno would be proud. The album begins with “Subliminal,” a perfect summation of the band’s creative process. As the music trapezes effortlessly between harmony and dissonance, it mixes the inventive spirit of Os Mutantes and the child-like playfulness of the Elephant Six Collective. Throughout the song, the brothers spur each other on to greater heights as each tries to best the other, posing pointed questions as part of the endless march toward self-perfection. Title track “Kill Your Memory” serves as the record’s skeleton key. Nervy and lumbering guitar strides until the chorus demands the listener...