Today we are showcasing the thoughtful artist, Courtney Heard. As an engineer by day and musician at heart, Courtney Heard is all about being completely transparent with her ultimate emotions and expressions.
The collection of Courtney Heard's music represents her own truths, and her ultimate goal as an artist is to inspire introspection, as well as inspire her listeners to find parts of themselves within her attentive lyricism. The latest project by Courtney Heard is her debut album release, titled 'Quarter-Life Quarantine.'
The album is inspired by the collection of thoughts and understandings from Courtney Heard, and each and every track most definitely has a purpose if you're tuning in to her sound correctly.
"Matter of Time" is the first track on Courtney Heard's album, and it opens with soft-strumming guitar rhythms that create a relaxing and nonchalant environment. Soon, a collective spark of instrumentals fills the air, and offer an inspirational listening environment for listeners. The harmonious voice of Courtney Heard is established within "Matter of Time", and listeners know what to expect for the majority of the album. Her vocals are full of incredible innocence, which aids in the delicate unraveling of her thoughtful lyricism.
"Matter of Time" ventures along the introspections of Courtney Heard, especially those pertaining to love. Love is a complicated emotion, and Courtney Heard knows all about it. Sharing her utmost thoughts and feelings surrounding the feeling, Courtney Heard expresses her pure and genuine mentality in "Matter of Time", which only works to complement the following track, "I Wonder".
"I Wonder" changes the ambiance of the album, bringing in more of a deeply soothing embrace with the chosen melodies. The same kind of tempo is kept consistent, and listeners are exposed to an important narrative: truth and the willingness to seek the truth. Courtney Heard expresses her discontent with the way society goes about interpreting and understanding various truths, and the more mellow tunes are able to intertwine the message of the song in a complementary way.
It's quite easy to appreciate the nuances of "I Wonder", and within the coming tracks, Courtney Heard proves that the high level of introspection is a prominent theme throughout this thought-provoking album. Next, we're onto "Running", the album's third track. "Running" brings back that flair of positivity through ambient guitar rhythms and a calculated fusion of bright synths.
With a beautiful contrast between production and lyricism, Courtney Heard takes it up a level with the essence of "Running", and explores the reality of regret within this emotionally-driven track. Too often do humans hide behind the realities of their emotions, and the heart has a big role in doing so. Courtney Heard is all too aware of that reality and expresses her own experience while holding back from the intricacies of her emotions. "Running" offers that nice escape from reality in the sense that the melody brings influential emotion to light, all while establishing an important message within any listening ear.
A more simplistic productional approach is taken on with the album's fourth track, "I Will". We receive a more expanded quality of the vocals that Courtney Heard is able to apply, and we feel absolutely free with the chosen melody of this track. "I Will" feels lighter, and it primarily comes from the softer collection of guitars, piano, and drum sounds that intertwine together to produce a deeply thoughtful expression on Courtney Heard's part. "I Will" is an easy listen and brings in the gentle expressions that Courtney Heard's warm artistic presence has to offer. The song's texture creates the perfect composition, and Courtney Heard's performance is quite exceptional within this particular track.
Once again, we receive an inspirational effect with the melody presented in the following track, "The Night". Nevertheless, that same contrast comes within the narrative of the track, where Courtney Heard unravels her experience with the never-ending haunting that can arise from past "love". We're kept intrigued with the genuine level of truth that comes from Courtney Heard, as she really lays it down with the various emotions that extend from such uncertainty that comes along with love, past, future, or present. Again, her vocal sound is kept simplistically intricate, and we're left with an ultimate warm feeling washing over us, despite the direction that the narrative takes.
Moving onto the sixth track, titled "One Day", Courtney Heard chooses to exasperate the dramatic effect the song takes on with luscious piano styles that mesh extremely well with her manipulated vocal sound. Courtney Heard sings, "I wore my heart out as my hopes went up in flames; I was broken down to the rubble, left to recover", and listeners are able to receive a raw sense of where her mind is at regarding heartbreak. With a brisk tempo, "One Day" gradually explores invigorating phenomena of painful obstacles one will find themselves attempting to overcome, and all of the awareness that extends out from it.
The sorrowful lyricism continues in the final track, "Everybody Talks", yet the melody is picked up once again, bringing us back to the similar sensation delivered in "Matter of Time". With a persistent uplifting beat, the energy of "Everybody Talks" is incredibly positive, although Courtney Heard ventures into the complications surrounding finding one's true self. We're kept in amazement with the natural grace that she is able to take on within the track, and how impactful each and every lyric is.
Courtney Heard provides such honest collections of thoughts within this particular track, and her vocal performance can't help but shine throughout the entirety of the track. All in all, "Everybody Talks" was the right kind of song to leave the album on, and provides the best kind of conclusion to the consistent narrative presented within this album.
Hello Courtney, thank you for joining us at BuzzMusic. As an incredibly expressive album, 'Quarter-Life Quarantine" delves into the realities surrounding the painful 'experience of heartbreak, finding one's self, and the attempt made to overcome certain tribulations. Was it difficult to share such vulnerable truths and thoughts with your listeners in this particular album, and how did it feel to release such an honest collection of yourself within this album? It was a first, for sure. I think capturing raw emotion is one of the best parts of songwriting, but it is also something you have to grapple with as you decide to release it out into the world. Everyone has their own opinions of music, and you never know how it’s going to be received. The realization that I came to is that being an artist means putting yourself and your feelings on display. If there’s someone out there who can find a little piece of themselves in your art, it makes it all worth it. At first, it was certainly nerve-wracking to release music for the first time, but now that it’s out there, I’m proud that I did it and didn’t hold anything back. Out of the seven tracks featured on your album, which track would you say had the greatest emotional effect? Was there a particular track that you hoped listeners would resonate with the most? I would say “I Will”. It’s a song that I wrote about racial injustice and police brutality. So many were moved by the horrendous deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, and as an African American myself, there were a ton of emotions stirred up—fear, anger, motivation, etc. I picked up my guitar and the words flowed. The song might be viewed as a rallying cry or a call to action, but initially, I wrote it as an ode to all of the people who showed empathy toward what had happened, whether that was through protesting, donating to the cause, sharing information via social media, you name it. Ultimately, the message of the song is that whether the issue of racial injustice is in the spotlight or not, I will keep on fighting for what’s right. It’s definitely the song I’m most proud of. What inspired the content presented within 'Quarter-Life Quarantine?' Were there any moments where you felt uplifted yourself whilst writing and recording this album? The entirety of 2020 inspired this album. I honestly didn’t set out to write an entire album, it just happened due to the eventfulness of this year. Many people were in situations where they couldn’t see their loved ones, and I wasn’t immune to that. My Granny is my number 1 fan, and I wanted to release a song to lift up her spirits while in quarantine. Her pure joy and excitement around the initial single release of “Matter of Time” drove me to keep going and create a full album. I’d say that was the most uplifting moment in the creation of the album. How do you feel that 'Quarter-Life Quarantine' compares to other pieces of work you've privately worked on? I’d say these songs are deeply rooted in feelings that were only unearthed due to the sheer amount of time that I spent thinking through situations and emotions because of the quarantine. While writing some of these songs, it all didn’t just come to me in one sitting—it took days and sometimes weeks. Though at times it could be frustrating, it was also therapeutic to work through the feelings I was trying to convey and why. I think that added a layer of complexity that I wouldn’t say all my previous songs had. Where do you see your music extending itself out from here, now that 'Quarter-Life Quarantine' has been successfully released? I had a lot of fun creating this album, and I’m excited to work on new material and continue to grow as an artist. My primary goal will always be to create music that people can relate to on a personal level, I’ll definitely be using the response to this album as a springboard to what’s next. I’m just getting started, and I’m looking forward to what’s in store.