A Simple Love Letter to Urban Heat

[Photo Credit: John Anderson]

If you’re a frequenter of The Cozy Cauldron and aren’t already aware of Urban Heat, the post-punk/synth pop 3-piece from Austin, Texas, chances are you aren’t following me on social media! I’ve been posting about these guys regularly since April, especially on Twitter [here], and have had multiple conversations with friends that I should maybe consider posting about my own work even a fraction as often I do about theirs. “But Loira,” I hear you say, “isn’t this an article about the band?” Listen. I said consider. And I considered! I considered, and decided the answer was to bring my love for their art into my writing. Buckle up, we’re going on a journey.*

* A journey that will take multiple parts because again, if you follow me on social media, you know I’m in the middle of posting one Urban Heat song a day until seeing them play again on August 18th. Those will be coming here in a future article sometime (September maybe? I don’t know, I’ve been saying I need to write this article since April and honestly? This isn’t even the one I was planning on writing. But this is the one I needed to write.) 

I first came across Urban Heat back in February of this year. They were on tour with Vision Video, and one of the Canadian stops was my city (the article I planned to write was about the show itself, with the extra fun “my city didn’t have power for 4+ days”). I hadn’t heard of them previously, like knowing opening bands, and with spending 90+ minutes commuting daily it wasn’t like I lacked the time to check out new music. 

A quick note before we dive in and I talk about the music and not the performance of it  – which honestly is an article in itself because the charisma, presence, and energy on stage is invigorating, and the sincerity accompanying the offstage charisma is grounding – it isn’t often you come across someone so fully present in a given moment and I distinctly remember being struck and surprised by this realization in a maybe 45 second conversation with frontman Jonathan Horstmann after the show. And then going “wait hold on, this is how I want to approach interactions with people, this is how present I want to be” – is that the high-energy drive of the live performance is incredible. It’s music made for performing, and the live performance really is a show. (My quick note lasted several lines, welcome to at least part of why it has taken me so long to write about this band. Okay, let’s get into it!)

My introduction to Urban Heat came by way of “A Simple Love Song,” and I was instantly delighted. I vividly recall that I stopped walking down a very empty street to blink, look around, and grin. Guys, gals, non-binary pals: it’s a fun song. How do you write a love song when the world keeps falling apart? Well, you grab your synths, set yourself a beat to strut to and speak-sing your way through it! (I don’t write about music and am not going to pretend to know how to write about music – I am very good about sharing genuine excitement for creations I believe in, talking about feelings, and imagining stories so enjoy the ride, okay? Okay!) 

I’ve danced down the street to this one, I regularly sway along in my chair and do my awkward arm dances – my cat, Eeyore, has had me serenade him at 6am in the living room while he blinks his sleepy little eyes at me – it is catchy, danceable, and fun. It makes me laugh, makes me smile, and “if you’re dancing at the end of the world, is the world even really ending, or is it just the beginning?” gets my mood up each and every time. Whenever it came up in a general shuffle I’d give a little laugh because I was going to see that band! 

Notably, it’s about romance at the end of the world. The world falling apart is actively happening in the song. It’s about not being able to write a love song because yeah, the world is a mess – and that’s a sentiment I imagine everyone reading this can appreciate. How do you write a love song in the face of systemic violence and police brutality? How do you write a love song during an ongoing pandemic that our legislators have decided is acceptable? How do you write a love song when wildfires and floods are seeing entire communities destroyed at a much more rapid pace than ever before? How do you write a love song when the world is falling apart? 

So, “Love Song,” was my introduction song, but how’s about my favourite song? If asked, I’d say “City Lights.” Is it actually “City Lights”? I’m not sure! It varies by week. Right now I’m really feeling “Blissful Neighbour” and “World on Fire,” but it has, for example been “Stay” and “Running out of Time” previously. But “Lights” comes up pretty consistently, so that one, I think! Choosing one is hard when they’re all great. 

But also: I started writing a solo journaling game inspired by “City Lights”. It was put on hold to write a different TTRPG related delight, which releases through Girls Write These Worlds [here] later this month. Worth noting that the feeling of this song still very much inspired and informed my contribution, so it feels pretty accurate to say it’s my favourite. And if it isn’t? The point remains that “City Lights” resonated with me so deeply that it inspired me to create. 

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more proud of my art, of the stories I’ve told and shared, than when someone tells me my writing inspired them to create. Or made them want to. Or even elicited a strong emotional reaction – connection, that’s why we do this, right? Art inspires art, inspires stories, inspires connection. 

What else can I say about “City Lights”? Well, it’s a deeply romantic song – it’s a love letter (to Austin) that translates to any city – to your city. It is romantic, it is nostalgic, it makes my heart ache for a not-so-distant past while simultaneously filling it with hope for the ever-uncertain future. I’ve dance-twirled in a parking lot at night, laughing with my heart fit to burst with love for a city as vibrant and alive as each and every person living in it, and watched the city lights go by with such a deep ache in my chest that it stuns me a little bit each time. 

Speaking of songs that leave an ache in your chest, “Have You Ever?” in both its original and newly released piano versions are experiences that ultimately ask us to consider everything we’ve been taught, and told, is real. “Have you ever found your sense of self, ‘til you realize you’re being someone else?” is a line I could write a whole article on (and is the heart of the piece about April’s show that may one day materialise). As with every off track off Urban Heat’s debut EP, Wellness, there’s a balance of hope and despair – that ache I mention in “City Lights”? It doesn’t go away, it persists throughout their music in an achingly beautiful way. And it might seem strange to describe this dark, synth-fuelled, dance energy infused music as such, but it is! On the whole, I think Urban Heat’s music meets you where you’re at, and think that evolves over time. 

The piano version is very different to the upbeat, punchy, move your body original that took over TikTok. It’s a much more melancholy song, I feel, and while I’m not on TikTok did hear that (some variation of) #HaveYouEverCried was trending over there in response to its release. This one released on all streaming services July 21, 2023 – was I playing it immediately to help those metrics? Absolutely. But with July 21 being the one year anniversary of my dad’s death I knew I’d be a mess if I listened to it before I was good and ready. I still cried. 

And I still cry when I sit and listen to it, which I do frequently – sit and listen, I mean, not cry, and not just with this song, but all their music. While I absolutely do sing along to their entire discography under my breath throughout my workday, I spend nearly as much time just listening to their music. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time with me knows that’s rare. My brain is reasonably convinced that if it isn’t doing at least three things at once it, and by extension I, will combust. 

But with this version in particular… I don’t know, you know? Maybe one day I’ll be able to separate it from my grief. Until then I listen to the piano version of “Have You Ever?”, each note opening the container I keep around the pain in my heart, and cry. “Have you ever thought the best would come, ‘til you realize that it had come and gone?” hits particularly hard. My relationship with my dad wasn’t simple, or easy. We spent several years not speaking to one another and it literally took him being on his deathbed for us to routinely spend time together again. It was an impossibly long and devastatingly short six weeks. I thought we’d have more time. 

He cared so much and so deeply, not just about me, but all of our family – he also sucked at showing it, and caused a lot of pain to the very people he loved most. We had our second chances, and third ones, and they played out the same way. I’d come to terms with it, or thought I had until the realisation that he wasn’t going to be around came to light. I thought our best was yet to come, and I look back on the last year and how much I’ve done knowing he’d be so, so proud – and that he isn’t here to see it. Our time’s come and gone. I miss him.

And sitting with that, with that sadness, with those feelings, is apparently something the new record is going to be good for; I know I’m looking forward to  it. “Like This,” still routinely gets stuck in my head despite having only heard it once back in April – believe that when it does get released I’ll be posting about it! 

Which all leads me to the present: Urban Heat is on tour with Vision Video again. I’d lamented back in April that I’d love to see them perform together again (and nearly drove down to the States the following night to do so) and how it struck me as unlikely that it would happen anytime soon. I’ve known for a while that Vision Video was making a stop in Vancouver this time around, and while I knew I was going to be in the general area (significantly closer than the East Coast) around that time, it wasn’t enough for me to get myself to Vancouver proper. Then Urban Heat announced they’d be joining and about twenty minutes later I had a plane ticket and slightly adjusted itinerary. 

If after all of this you still aren’t convinced to give Urban Heat a listen, I’m going to try and tempt you with some covers. We’ve got Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” [here] (hits me right in the heart). AFI your jam? Great, mine too, have “Girls Not Grey” [here]! How about Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”? Right [here] my friend. And then, with a fresh new video that is stunningly beautiful, “Goodbye Horses” by Q Lazzarus is available for your listening and viewing pleasure [here] (and also, you know, right above this paragraph). 

And if you want to learn more, get a sense of who these guys are, they were recently featured in SPIN Magazine [here], and had a really insightful interview over on The Power of Positivity Podcast with Nick Harris [here].

There are so many more interviews I could link to – I’ve enjoyed all of them. Each one leaves me with something to consider, and follow-up questions. Always with the follow-up questions. I keep a running list and find myself delighted when a future interview takes the conversation further. But in the interest of not losing you after you’ve been so kind as to stick around for this long, I’ll leave you with those ones and an enthusiastic suggestion to look into them more if they resonate with you because it’s good stuff all the way. 

Want to keep up with Urban Heat? Check them out on TikTok [here], Instagram [here], and if you’re on the West Coast maybe give those tour dates a look [here]!

That’s all from me this week, thanks so much for reading along! Stay cozy!