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The Heels – I Am

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The Heels - I Am

The Heels - I Am
3.8

Rating

 3.8/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great harmonic vocals with three very good female voices
  • Nice styles with country elements, but also a lot of pop, soul and a bit of rock
  • Long album, a good value

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Some songs divert quite much from the main sound of the album - may be confusing

I had the female country music trio The Heels in my playlists a couple of times. I really loved their fresh and modern sound. On 25th June 2021, the released their second album. Here are my thoughts about the 16 songs, which are together simply called I Am.

 

The Heels – About The Artists

The Heels are a female country music trio from Vancouver. Bobbi Smith, Brittni Dominelli and Kyla Rawlins are not related to each other. The three ladies are also very active as songwriters. They debuted in 2017 with the single Come Around, followed by Love, Heels, their debut album, in 2018. The had some music award nomination on province level. From there on, they developed on their career. As their second album features quite a long time span of releases, some of the tracks have already received some merits, e.g. music awards. The signature element of their music are undoubtedly their three voice harmonic vocals.

 

The Heels – I Am – Track by Track

The sixteen track album lasts 52 minutes.

1. High Heels On

The opener was one of the The Heels songs, which attracted me to have a deeper look into the music of the band. It is hard to argue that the lyrics of the song have too much of a depth. However, the song has a nice groove, the ladies push the rating up by a really good vocal performance. And the topic is definitely relatable, ain’t it?

I keep my high heels on it don’t matter
I don’t run no more
I keep my high heels on it don’t matter
I don’t run no more
Keep my high heels on

 

2. Friends Like Mine

A nice rhythm, three nice ladies with even nicer vocals – even though the lovely groove of the opener is gone in Friends Like Mine and the song is closer to the “pop” in “country pop”, the song just makes me smile. It is pop in country style and a song made for dancing and moving to the music.

3. Hush Money

Hush Money is the first song on this album which is new to the listeners of The Heels – and they already talk about bribing people. The song has a lot of power, touches R&B and soul styles. Nonetheless, you cannot deny that the track has country roots. The song itself does not really please me overwhelmingly, but the energy and – again – the vocals finally lead to a smile while listening to the British Columbia ladies.

4. Got You Read

Fourth track, again a nice style: the song is rather slow and is more a song of your choice when you found a new love at the end of the party than dancing your heels off before. The song is not that present and does not catch you from the very first moment. In fact, it is not bad.

5. Catch & Release (feat. Aaron Pritchett)

This ain’t no catch and release
If I get you hooked on me
I don’t know what’s goin’ through your mind
But I know what’s goin’ through mine
I like your hand on my hips
And I like the taste of your kiss
On my lips but no this
Ain’t no catch and release

Aaron Pritchett is a 50 years old British Columbia country artist. Together with Bobbi, Brittni and Kyla, they do great harmonies together. I like that the four singers really work together and develop the atmosphere of Catch & Release instead of just having separate sections of the song (as this is more and more the case in modern productions). As I had the song in my playlists, I really enjoyed listening to it.

6. A Man Like You

A Man Like You is obviously a song about love. And it sounds and feels like a song about love. Maybe a bit lovelier than other love songs as the harmonic singing of the four ladies just spreads some extra emotions. The song is maybe not made to dominate the country charts, but it at leads leads to 3:25 enjoyable minutes.

7. Fixer Upper

Similar to Hush Money, Fixer Upper comes with a more angry touch. After the soft and gentle A Man LIke You a bit of surprising at first sight – but the soul-ish touch leads to

8. Holy Coast

In the introduction, I already stated that I Am covers quite a time span of song releases. Holy Coast has in fact been released on 22nd April … 2019! It is not one of my favorites. The newer songs feels more mature and do a better job between leveraging the vocal strength of the band with country and pop elements. The Holy Coast has even a slight touch of gospel to me – but it is no Holy Ghost, for sure!

9. Symptoms

The Symptoms is one of the songs I really enjoyed to listen to. The lyrics make me smile, it is a nice blend of country and pop (there is even some rock music in it). I guess, there is no need that The Heels again deliver a really good performance on the vocal side. Symptoms causes a smile while listening (at least on my side) – that’s not a too bad symptom for a song, aint it?

10. Take the Trailer

You keep the house, I’ll take the trailer
Honey I’m out, sayin’ see you later

That’s how you can settle a breakup as well. The powerful song is not only promoting life on a camp site, but is just full of powerful of funny lyrics. A song which is made to party – definitely one of my favorites on the album.

11. Happy After You

Another breakup song – but very different. Happy After You starts like an a capella track – I would have loved to keep it like that, but the instruments join later in the song. As they are very quiet and decent, the song keeps it beautiful style.

12. Fools Gold

Fools Gold comes back with the very straight country pop style by The Hells. After some a bit of special songs, a nice experience. The song has a nice rhythm and thus is quite entertaining.

13. Dear Mama

A song about family and your mothers. The song is rather a pop ballad, which is again nicely presented by the three singers. Quite a nice listen, even though it is not my favorite song of the album.

14. Faith Over Faith

I may not have the answers, but there’s a reason why I’m here – the song starts a bit of slow, almost scary – but then develops to one of the straightest listens on the album. Nice one.

15. Dump Him

The album stays with pop music-style songs. One of the nicest arrangements on the album. The background vocals stating Dump Him all the time feel like a crowd pushing the protagonist to take the final decision. Is that the way it works in Canada?

16. I Am

THe album closes with the title track. The song is again very concentrated on the vocals, there is the sound of the sea and some birds in the background. The three artists close their album with their strongest talent – their voices. The song gives some atmosphere – but to be honest, you will likely soon change your attitude and go for the forward button.

 

The Heels – I Am – Spotify

Here is the 2021 The Heels album on Spotify

 

The Heels – I Am – Track by Track

First of all, I had to think about my recent Length Does Matter posting (about the length of albums, nothing sexual…) when I listened to I Am. For a (German Amazon) price of 11.99 EUR, you receive almost 52 minutes of well-done music. A price of some .75 EUR per track or .24 EUR per minute. The Heels deliver a great service to their fans – and I feel that’s just what you should do when you want to grow. The vocals are of course the signature element – and the strength – of the music by Bobbi, Brittni and Kyla. They really make use of that talent and deliver very different songs, which (mostly) still have common elements, so that you recognize that this is a track by the British Columbians. Unfortunately, I miss that a bit in some of the last songs.

From that side, they really did everything in a good manner. You might not love all tracks on I Am – but there is a The Heels song for (almost) anyone on the album, I feel. I definitely enjoyed the listen and long for more. I feel the trio can do better next time.

 

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