Early this year, singer-songwriter Alwyn Morrison came to fame with his striking single, Chained, which critics claimed was “devastingly human” and “a track that seems to have escaped directly from his heart.” Morrison’s latest autumn EP, Heartsplit, is an extension of his experience in the machine-like life of New York, while also revealing the other side of the city. Heartsplit is a compilation of six songs, where tracks like The City, Turn All The Lights On have more omnipresent themes, whereas A Mile A Minute, Chained, Lenox Hill, and Maybe In Another World are more intimate.
Heartsplit begins with A Mile A Minute, a lively, falling-in-love kind of pop song. Of course, love cannot be truly measured, but Morrison’s line, “It’s like I’m loving you a mile a minute,” captures the strength of this endless, infinite feeling that he’s experiencing. In today’s left-human-brained-dominated world, the human mind constantly seeks facts, statistics, and measurements to validate the unvalidatable. A Mile A Minute stands out as a sweet pop ballad, an affectionate gesture that expresses, beyond doubt, the admiration and love Alwyn holds for his beloved. The track has a very liberating quality, capturing life’s fleeting moments in a danceable form.
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The City is a song about the universal struggle between the human heart and mind. A tension that can be drawn in parallel to passion and desire, feelings of home, and the chaos of a city. A head-bobbing pop whose lyrics confirm that “The city that will break your heart”. Thematically rooted in the grandeur and grind of a metropolis like New York, Alwyn captures the endless emotions jam-packed into the everyday rhythm of city living.
Next is the much-acclaimed single Chained, which garnered over 500K weekly impressions and became one of the most-added songs on U.S. radio. In the journey through the EP, Chained is positioned as one of the two midpoints of the six-track. The song takes a stark turn inward, diving intimately into personal darkness. A slightly slower-paced acoustic indie number compared to the ones before it, the song is, without a doubt, my favourite. As a society, we’ve reached a point where the weight of collective sins is not ours to bear, yet somehow we end up blaming ourselves. “No, it′s not your fault. It also ain’t mine. How much louder can I scream for help? How can I, I not blame myself?” pierce through the emotional rawness. It’s a quintessential expression of apathy, sung with striking passion.
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Lenox Hill, Alwyn’s this year’s Valentine’s Day release turns darkness from Chained into reminisce & hope. Lenox Hill is a walk down the memory lane of the love that makes one feel like spring. I especially love how Morrison describes the madly in love couple as being child-like. It rings, especially for anyone who’s ever loved with that adolescent intensity. Lines like, “Every night I go back to that summer. Just two kids, one round after another…For a time, our hearts stood still. How I miss those nights just us in Lenox Hill,” capture that euphoric innocence.
Turn All The Lights On kicks off with a funky beat; it’s a vibrant, feel-good track that lifts the EP’s energy even higher, just as the title suggests. With its infectious groove and relatable lyrics, it’s the kind of song that effortlessly wins your heart. And now, as we arrive at the final track of the Heartsplit, I’d rather leave its magic for the listeners to experience for themselves. Maybe In Another World might just be the best of them all, not just lyrically, but in its beautiful arrangement of instruments and the female background vocals that elevate the song as a whole.
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