the hArt of Sound
Soul Shaker
The hArt of Sound is the brainchild of Colin Hart, a multi-media artist based in New Hampshire with an eye for photography, a fun sense of humor (see his TikTok account), and a unique taste in musical composition and performance. In just four single releases, he’s managed to rack up close to 400,000 streams on Spotify - no small feat in today’s competitive world. His latest, “Soul Shaker” is in the same hard-hitting style as the first four and stands to do quite well. Here’s our review.
Track starts with a great bass riff in a minor, with some ambient dirt lurking in the background. Right away, you get the feeling that the hammer is going to drop hard, soon. When the vocals drop in, so do the drums with a straight pattern that helps pick up the intensity. He makes a great choice in starting his melody off the minor third to add to the thickness and works his way through the first set of phrases with a style that reminds me of Scott Weiland and an EQ that has just the right amount of crunch and grease. It’s a tense vibe that works really well.
With the chorus, there’s a bit of a sonic explosion that primarily comes from the guitars. Love the accents that drive the whole change - it’s a nice deviation from the verse, and the change in bass and drum patterns make it complete. It’s wrapped up with a cool descending line that keeps the section short and sweet, leading you perfectly back into the second verse which he immediately jumps on.
Note the subtle changes in instrumentation and additional tones here to build it up just enough. Really enjoy the stop in the middle of the verse that coincides with the lyrics and the sound FX are a smart touch. The bass and drums have returned to their original format used in the opening and first verse which gives him plenty of room to work with, without making it too busy. There’s a nice change in how the verse is presented as you get towards the back end of it - he draws it out with two phrases that aren’t used in the first verse, another nice development that shows a curious mind when it comes to arranging and production, as well as the belief that you don’t have to follow the standard format of pop music today. I also need to note how much I enjoy all the extra tones that are thrown into the greater soundscape to give this track exceptional depth. You can tell he’s influenced by a great deal of modern music, but most importantly, he leaves a great deal of room in the production by keep the basic instruments sparse. Too many bands, musicians and producers get this wrong and thrown in as much stuff as you can.
Now we’re at the second chorus, and I’m really curious as to what the lyrics are about. He keeps the chorus short and sweet, and then takes us into a very heavy, very dirty, borderline atonal bridge and solo section with more crunch that a Nestle delivery truck. Absolutely love that breakdown and the solo - it’s what I first heard when I received the song and it is what sold me on the track. Here again, he keeps the bass and drums simple and leaves all the experimentation to the guitars. Dig it. Despite how much I enjoy the simplicity of the drums, the effects on his vocals, the bombastic nature of the solo and all the little surprises he’s tucked into the song, I have to say that my favorite tone on the track is definitely the bass tone. Crisp and crunchy, cleanly played - never a missed note and nicely in the pocket. Nothing fancy, just a solid track and groove. I’m assuming that Colin played all the parts on this track, but I could be wrong.
He revisits that theme he introduced in the second verse that you could now consider a pre-chorus to set up the final chorus that ends on just the vocal lines, “shame on me, shame on me.” I enjoyed how it ends - as if to remind us that the lyrics are the most important part, and provoking us to go back and listen to it again to figure out what he’s talking about. I think I have it figured out, but I’m a firm believer that we should all discover songs for ourselves and attach our own meanings, regardless of the creators intent.
Make sure you scroll down to catch his socials and other tracks. His Instagram page is filled with marvelous photos from his portfolio, as well as insight into his life in New Hampshire (the outhouse video made my laugh out loud) and all the gigs he’s got coming up. Congrats on the great release and all the upcoming gigs, Colin! Hope to catch you here in Nashville soon!