If you’re looking for a last-second Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone, local rockers The Heart & The Flame have you covered with the February 14th debut release of their digital EP, Love Is The Sea – and if you play your cards right, it might not even cost you anything!
“The Heart & The Flame is the aftermath of throwing four passionate song writers together and challenging them to pursue their full potential,” says the bio. “They present a dynamic array of songs ranging from “high energy indie dance rock” to” soulful ballads” and “ambient synth-pop”. Addictive rhythms layered with ethereal vocals over contagious hooks, catchy riffs and euphoric tones.”
You can certainly feel the passion in this release. Love is the Sea is the first release for a band that’s been on the scene for less than a year, but containing members with a lot of musical chops under their belts already. The five tracks rock back and forth from soft and soulful, to fast paced and intense; with Nicki McRae‘s haunting feminine vocals and Tyler Thomson’s pleasantly insistent voice. Both sync harmoniously into the more thrusting refrains that saturate the release with background emotions of love and loss. Lyrically, the song is ambitiously ambiguous and just deep enough to appreciate without sounding cryptic: “every waking dream that’s on the shore / pulls me in, pulls me out towards / love is the sea and it’s calling for me / I just want to set you free.” The instrumental accompaniment is solid, with great guitar work, solid percussion and some dynamite work on the piano. As a whole, the tracks are catchy, and “The Right Answers” is a real earwig (you know, one of those tracks that burrows into your brain). The tracks drip sincerity and experience, and the sound is strong and well produced.
But don’t just take my word for it – if you’re active with that social media stuff and quick with a camera, you can get your hands on a free digital download. On February 14th, the band will give away 50 downloads of the release, along with a signed poster.
Ffity “Back to The Future” themed posters will be plastered throughout Calgary, with hints to their locations being given on the band’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. The fifty earliest birds to tweet or post and tag themselves with a photo of one of these posters will get download codes.
See, The Heart & The Flame have thought of it all – a creative date experience (hunting for a poster), the chance to do a cutesy couple pic (don’t forget to keep that poster in the shot!), and a reward of some lovely tunes to share together.
For the rest of you, you can click here to simply go, starting tomorrow, and purchase the release for five bucks (or more) on Bandcamp.
