Friday 11 December 2020

Album Review: The Distance Between by Arms & Hearts (by Emma Prew)


We all know that 2020 has been difficult and strange year for a lot of reasons. It’s been an odd year for new music although there has been plenty of it, all things considered. Personally, despite starting the year being excited to discover new artists and hear new albums from my existing favourite artists, it got to a point over the summer and into autumn where I just wasn’t that enthused about listening to music in general – new or otherwise. There have however been some exceptions to that, including the album I’m going to be talking about today!

The Distance Between is the much-anticipated debut full-length from Manchester-based Arms & Hearts that was released on 13th November. We’ve been fans of solo songwriter Steve Millar, aka Arms & Hearts, and his heartfelt acoustic punk for almost as long as this blog has been around. I know fellow CPRW contributor Richard was very impressed by this album so hopefully I can do it some kind of justice in my review. Read on and see what you think…


The Distance Between opens with the somewhat bleakly titled Epitaphs. After a few seconds of an almost eerie sounding fade in, the track begins with some firm strummed acoustic guitar chords. The first lines of the song – ‘I didn’t come here to talk about dying, but lately it’s all that I’ve been thinking about’ – are indeed pretty bleak but it also feels honest and genuine. The song is about dealing with feelings of existential dread that unfortunately goes hand in hand with suffering from depression. There’s a sense of building throughout Epitaphs that feels very appropriate for an opening track and it leads us nicely into track number two. Kerouac On A Minimum Wage is up next and the pace is immediately ramped up for this melodic and catchy tune. There’s a lot more going on instrument-wise here compared to Epitaphs with steady drums, great layered guitar parts, subtle baking vocals (which I believe are courtesy of Sam Moloney of Mixtape Saints) and a decent dose of harmonica – have I mentioned that I love a bit of harmonica? The song is about working in a soul destroying minimum wage job in our unavoidably capitalist society and struggling to make ends meet – ‘This is how we live when we ain't really living, this is how it feels when the wheels ain't spinning, cursing Christmas lights as we welcome another year, another year of just scraping by’. It’s definitely one of my favourites on the album, maybe even one of my favourite songs of 2020. Track number three, Forever The Pessimist, opens with a wonderful melodic electric guitar part that is backed up by acoustic strumming. One of the things that immediately struck me about this album, particularly compared to some of Arms & Hearts’ previous releases, is just how much fuller their sound is. A full band Arms & Hearts live performance is certainly something I’d love to see one day. Forever The Pessimist is about Steve’s journey to sobriety and coming to terms with the fact that alcohol isn’t a suitable coping mechanism when you’re already struggling. It’s hopefully a song that some listeners will be able to relate to and find comfort in.

Obviously, by this point of The Distance Between, we know that this isn’t exactly a cheery, sunshine and rainbows album – but let’s face it, that’s not really my cup of tea. Things do however take a seemingly darker turn with Static. At the start of the song, the guitar playing is muted and Steve’s vocal feel bitter as he begins to sing of struggles with his mental health, focussing on the unpleasantness of having a panic attack. A real highlight of the track is towards the end when Steve’s vocals are complimented with backing harmonies – ‘because all I wanted was to feel something now all I feel is nothing, all I feel is empty’. It’s something that I know would/will sound incredible live. The fifth song, Community, features Jared Hart from New Jersey punk bands The Scandals and Mercy Union. The song is about life on the road as a touring musician and the sacrifices you have to make – both physically and mentally – in order to be able to do so, something that both Steve and Jared both know a thing or two about. Often the life of a touring musician can be glorified as a life of partying and seeing the world but the reality, at least for DIY punk musicians, is not so black and white. I’ve said it a few times already but this is going to be another great tune to sing along to in a live setting – it’s even got some classic punk rock whoa-oh-ohs. Up next is Out For Blood which, if I remember rightly, was the first single released from The Distance Between earlier this year – check out the excellent video by Fish Outta Water Films. This is definitely one of the more upbeat songs on the album and I mean that both in terms of melody and subject matter. Out For Blood is about eliminating toxic people from your life and the track is pure catharsis to listen to. You also can’t complain about the infectious nature of the chorus, even if it does have the potential to get stuck in your head for days. ‘If you're out for blood then come and get some, If you're out for blood then come and get some, If this year's taught me anything it’s how evil people can be, If you're out for blood then come and get some, If you're out for blood then come and get some, if you bring the lighter fluid I'll bring something to make a spark, and we'll burn it down.’

The seventh track on The Distance Between is titled Worry In The Walls. It’s a slower paced and more stripped back song than some of the others on the album but that simply allows the listener to fully focus on the emotion in Steve’s voice – ‘Will we ever find the money, to live half a life?, all this work to live to work beats it out of me’. It could perhaps be said that there’s a bit of a New Jersey influence throughout Arms & Hearts’ music – often compared, understandably, to Brian Fallon – and on Worry In The Walls I am definitely getting Bruce Springsteen vibes. The haunting harmonica playing that breaks up the song and the horns towards the end further support this. The penultimate song on the album is its title track, The Distance Between. Starting slowly with a muted guitar part and hushed vocals, The Distance Between gradually builds into something with such a huge, dare I say epic, sound. It’s unlike anything else on the album before it – very much a full band affair with layer upon layer of dreamlike guitar parts. The song reaches its final crescendo with thirty seconds to go before fading out in a distorted fuzz. The album could have ended there and it probably would have made perfect sense… It doesn’t and that’s okay because what comes next is the icing on the cake for me. Fortitude is not a new Arms & Hearts song, having originally been recorded in 2017 and featuring as a live set closer for many years, but I was so happy to hear it as The Distance Between’s closing track. I’m sure I’m not the only one who would consider Fortitude to be my favourite Arms & Hearts song and this new version is just even more wonderful. It’s an acoustic track that somehow manages to have such a big sound and instantly begs you to sing along with Steve. There are some flawless group backing vocals on the track that really give it a similar feeling to hearing the song live. I love it and it’s honestly just awesome to finish listening to the album with a big smile on my face.

I was always going to like whatever Arms & Hearts released next but The Distance Between has surpassed my debut album expectations. Yes, it’s got some quite dark and, at times, miserable subject matter but there’s also a real catharsis to it all and there’s no denying that it ends on a more hopeful note. An excellent album in a not so excellent year.

Stream, download and [pre]order the vinyl on Bandcamp now and like Arms & Hearts on Facebook.

This review was written by Emma Prew.

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