James Hill leads a ragtag international army of four-string heros to musical glory on their soaring, anthemic new single and animated lyric video Hearts On Fire — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Like the rest of the songs from his latest album Uke Heads, Brookfield, Nova Scotia singer-songwriter and ukulelist Hill enlisted a legion of friends and fans to join him on Hearts On Fire, proving that an enormous collective can still convey the solitary sorrows and joys of an individual soul.
“Hearts On Fire is about feeling the feels,” Hill says. “Those gut-punching, skin-crawling, pupil-dilating moments that define us. When your blood runs hot, that’s it. That’s the feeling: Your heart is on fire.” With lyrical references to everything from the George Floyd murder to the spiritual purity of dogs, the song paints those automatic responses he’s talking about in bold strokes:
“Oh the mountain is high
I’m an eagle, I’m a stray bird
Hold me no more
I’m a lion, I’m a tamer
And a black sunrise
Comes over the blue-eyed hills
And my heart’s on fire… still.”
Hill compares his music to that of The Black Keys and Jack White, but your ear isn’t off if it also locates this particular track in the tradition of Big Country and Arcade Fire. And no matter how much you might think you hear a guitar on it — or anywhere on the 10-song album, for that matter — you don’t: It’s the sound of Hill’s baritone ukulele, overdriven to the point of distortion. “Who needs six strings when four will do?” he muses.
Besides, it isn’t as if the album is lacking in strings — or much of anything else. A truly crowdsourced piece of work, Uke Heads was assembled over the course of two years from contributions laid down by 175 players and singers from 15 countries. In May 2022, Hill invited anyone to perform with him on his new record, as long as they purchased one of his self-created pieces of digital art as a ticket. Participants attended monthly rehearsals, practised their parts, then recorded themselves singing and playing. Hill then mixed the album himself, blending more than 100 layers of audio per song.
The result is less cluttered than simply diverse, ranging from uke-based riff rock to jazz to sound collage to psychedelia to epic singalongs. It’s a major milestone for Hill, whose 25-year career has included 2011’s Man With A Love Song and 2014’s Juno-nominated The Old Silo. Along the way, he’s also picked up a Canadian Folk Music Award. And now he may be standing at the, er, head of an entire movement.
Watch the video for Hearts On Fire above, listen to Uke Heads below, and join James Hill on his website, Instagram and Facebook.
