In January 2010 I attended a concert with Mathias Tjønn in Oslo. It was one of those excellent concerts that I even blogged about! And as it turned out, Mathias is a nice guy too. We both live in the same hood in Brooklyn now, and I have attended quite a few more shows with his indie folk band Racing Heart. The photo is from a concert at Sycamore this summer.
Mathias hasn’t been playing that many concerts lately, but that’s simply because he’s been busy recording an album; To Walk Beside That Ghost. You can hear the songs Emma, This Pretty Mistake and Photos at racingheartmusic.com or his bands’ Facebook page. I’ve been lucky to have the whole album on repeat for quite a while already. Beautiful vocal harmonies are with us throughout, with the ultimate highlight in the short, a cappella song Et ønske, et hÃ¥p. These days the quiet Soft Voices is my personal favorite. While the first single, Emma, is a great synth track, it might not be the typical Racing Heart song. Then again, it’s hard to give this album a specific label anyway. Indie folk seems to be what comes closest. Let’s just listen to it instead of labeling, shall we?
The wonderful news is that Norwegians now can listen as the album is finally out back home. And even better, Racing Heart is visiting Norway to play for lucky guests at Internasjonalen, Sound of Mu and Kvarteret in late February. Americans won’t get the pleasure of hearing the full-length album until April. But then again, you can probably catch the gentlemen that make up Racing Heart; Mathias Tjønn, Justin Keller and Kendall Eddy at various venues around Brooklyn in the future. I’ll let you know!
