Singled Out: Greg Weeks' The Heathen Heart

Greg Weeks (Espers, Language of Stone) just released his new single "The Heathen Heart" from his forthcoming album "If the Sun Dies" (out January 23rd.) To celebrate we asked Greg to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

All of my songs start in my bedroom, unless, of course, I am away from home, then they usually start in someone else's bedroom, like the song I recently wrote while staying in a friend's apartment in Paris. I generally wait until I am alone before I start to compose, but many of my demos include ambient elements...televisions, conversations, pet sounds, or in the case of the Parisian trip, French children playing in the courtyard of a nearby school.

I live in constant fear of losing or damaging my phone due to the fact that I record all of my demos to Voice Memos, which seems both quaint and dangerous. In order to get the right balance between guitar and vocal, I place the phone on a bed or a couch and sit on the ground while playing. Most of the time my demos are written and recorded on my acoustic guitar, a 90s Guild purchased because of its earthy sound but equally because Nick Drake played one.

"The Heathen Heart" came out of a period wherein I was on the one hand writing songs for a new Espers record and on the other hand penning songs that reflected my moods. Lyrically, Espers songs require a detachment from ego, whereas my solo work is intensely personal. Espers songs are often finger-picked, whereas my solo material is largely strummed. Differentiation, in this regard, is important.

The genesis of ninety-nine percent of my songs comes from experimenting with sound. I never hear a melody in my head. Rather, I pick up my guitar, hunt around the neck, change tunings, add a capo, basically do anything to trigger a melodic idea. Once I have that root idea, I build the song based on emotional need. "The Heathen Heart" started with the song's initial chord strum. From there the muse took over (or whatever you want to call it). Actually, it is somewhat disingenuous to blame it all on abstract creativity. There is a lot of calculation involved. I guess it's like being a sculptor, an additive and subtractive process guided by intellect and intuition with the innate ability to do so being the abstract element.

If the Sun Dies is a bit of a departure for me in that a number of the songs tell actual stories, but "Heathen" is a throwback in that it has no clear narrative meaning. The lyrics are oblique because they embody emotions-a state of being-rather than tell a personal story. You can get a sense of my state of mind at the time by investigating the song I wrote immediately after: "What it Takes," but even that song has a straightforwardness that "Heathen" lacks. All I can do is hope that listeners are willing to take that walk down the "long and winding thoroughfare" with me to figure out for themselves who the heathen is and why he is plunging a dagger through a heart.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

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