Heart Under
2022 studio album by Just Mustard
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Heart Under is the second studio album by Irish rock band Just Mustard, released on 27 May 2022 through Partisan Records.
| Heart Under | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 27 May 2022 | |||
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:12 | |||
| Label | Partisan Records | |||
| Producer | Just Mustard | |||
| Just Mustard chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Heart Under | ||||
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Following on from the release of debut album Wednesday in 2018, Heart Under marked a departure from that album's shoegaze sound, with many critics describing the album as noise rock.
Background and release
On 19 November 2021, Just Mustard released the single "I Am You", which was reported to be part of the band's upcoming second album.[1] On 23 February 2022, the band announced their second album, titled Heart Under, set to be released on 27 May, along with the release of single "Still".[2] "Mirrors" and "Seed" were also released as singles prior to the release of the album.[3][4] The album was recorded at Attica Studios in County Donegal and was self-produced, with the band stating that "they wanted Heart Under to feel like the experience of driving through a tunnel with the windows down".[5]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 89/100[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Clash | 8/10[7] |
| The Daily Telegraph |  [8] |
| DIY |  [9] |
| The Independent |  [10] |
| The Irish Times | [11] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 9/10[12] |
| NME | [5] |
| Paste | 8.5/10[13] |
| Pitchfork | 7.7/10[14] |
Heart Under received critical acclaim from music critics upon its release. On review aggregator website Metacritic, Heart Under received a score of 89 out of 100 from eleven critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim",[6] whilst on Album of the Year, it has an average score of 85 out of 100 from 17 critic ratings.[15]
Reviewing for the NME, Will Richards described Heart Under as "thrillingly untraditional noise rock" with the band having "left behind the shoegaze tag that has followed them around since the release of their debut" and described the band as a "a truly unique gem".[5] Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph, also found Heart Under to be a departure from the group's shoegaze sound, describing it as "moody and dark, with industrial guitars and no typical choruses", in a five-star review.[8] Max Freedman of Paste labelled the album as "a tornado of distorted dissonance", and claimed that it "places them among the vanguard of the British Isles' ever-crowded post-punk scene".[13]
Robin Murray, writing for Clash, described Heart Under as a "striking, fantastically original work that taps into animalistic emotion",[7] whilst Siobhán Kane wrote in The Irish Times that it "speaks to power of resilience".[11] Writing for The Line of Best Fit, Kyle Kohner claimed that though "the decidedly blue atmosphere of Heart Under can be a bit one-note, albeit seldomly, it still frequently froths from lips, almost unceasingly, with the type of music you wish more post-punk revivalists, bedroom pop darlings, and even some shoegaze traditionalists would aspire to make more of".[12]
Track listing
All tracks written and performed by Just Mustard.[16]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "23" | 4:53 |
| 2. | "Still" | 4:05 |
| 3. | "I Am You" | 3:50 |
| 4. | "Seed" | 4:48 |
| 5. | "Blue Chalk" | 5:01 |
| 6. | "Early" | 3:49 |
| 7. | "Sore" | 4:24 |
| 8. | "Mirrors" | 4:17 |
| 9. | "In Shade" | 4:38 |
| 10. | "Rivers" | 5:27 |
| Total length: | 45:12 | |
Personnel
Adapted from liner notes[16]
Just Mustard
- Katie Ball – vocals, tambourine
- David Noonan – guitar, vocals
- Mete Kalyoncuoglu – guitar
- Robert Hodgers Clarke – bass guitar
- Shane Maguire – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
- Chris W. Ryan – engineering
- David Noonan – engineering
- Joe LaPorta – mastering
- David Wrench - mixing, additional production
- Graham Dean – art
- Hermes Miranda – photography
- Molly Keane – graphic design