It’s easier to sing about heartbreak than love, as Minneapolis’ Jeremy Messersmith proves on Heart Murmurs. On his fourth release, Messersmith touches on the different facets of love—the firsts, the unrequited and the breakups—with delicate ease, though sometimes at the expense of raw feeling.
Singles like “Tourniquet” and “Ghost” solidify Messersmith’s signature 1960s pop sound as the album explores falling in and out of love from a variety of perspectives.
As his previous trio of albums demonstrates, concepts work well for Messersmith. His first album, The Alcatraz Kid, explores on the innocence of childhood while his second, The Silver City, focuses the restlessness of adulthood. The trilogy culminates with his thoughtful reflection on death in The Reluctant Graveyard. It’s on these three albums Messersmith so well sums up the common threads of life—with all the shitty jobs and broken-down cars in between. On Heart Murmurs, Messersmith sings best about the pains of being in love, not the joys of it.
Over sweet piano chords, vibrating guitars and smooth orchestra strings, Messersmith describes ‘sputtering’ and ‘fluttering’ out of control over a girl on “Bubblin’,” one of the album’s most emotionally realized tracks.
Additionally, “Hitman” is painful and authentic, starting off slow and culminating when Messersmith cries, “I need a hitman for my heart!” With this proclamation, Messersmith shows you his feelings instead of telling you, which is refreshing and heartfelt in comparison to the rest of the album.
Overall, the album’s focus is almost too narrow at times, and for this reason, some of the songs tend to fall flat. While Heart Murmurs sounds similar to Messersmith’s past albums, it sometimes lacks the feeling the prior three so beautifully embodied.
While it’s apparent that Messersmith knows how to create wistful and sweet pop songs that tug at your bones, I was hoping for something bigger and less safe, not just another sensible pop-rock indie album.
Still, Messersmith has found a formula that works for him, and if you’re looking for a batch of quirky, melancholy, lullaby-like love songs, Heart Murmurs is nice on the ears, even if it isn’t his most ambitious.
Rating: B
