Matthew Heller shines with "Learn to Love"

With "Learn to Love," his new single, and the latest release from his raw, emotive album "Temple Moon Desire," Matthew Heller arrives like a flare in the dark: urgent, honest, and impossible to ignore. Penned in the wake of personal tragedy (the loss of Afghani journalist and close friend Miri Azizi), this track not only wears its heart on its sleeve, it opens a vein. "Learn to Love" is the song that requires you to lean in, think harder, and, frankly, care more. Whether it's for the tune or the text, there's something you can hang onto.

"Learn to Love" grabs you with its sound early on: a fusion of indie-rock edge and alt-folk sincerity that melts like butter. Think Bright Eyes tumbling in a storm of Gaslight Anthem, with Bruce Springsteen's grit running through its veins and the dreamy sprawl of Broken Social Scene looming in the background as shadows. There's a hardscrabble quality to Heller's voice, lived-in but not worn-out, which lets you know this is not just a performance but the truth, sung loud.

A fun point of departure is the production, nailed perfectly by David Pollock and recorded in true split fashion in Portland and the world-famous Ranch in Texas, with a soundtrack feel. Warm acoustic layers, slinky keys, and the occasional sneaky horn flourish give the song its heartbeat, as guest vocals from Lilly Breshears (Sheers) lend a haunting elegance. Co-written with Anthony Mead of the High Step Society brass band, every part of the track sounds purposeful but vulnerable, refined but intimate.

But "Learn to Love" stands out for the lyrical courage more than anything else. Heller doesn't just pen songs; he also writes meditations. "How can you know where you're from, linear-screw fusion?" hits like a literary sucker punch. Borrowed from Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan," it is a wildly imaginative way to consider identity, fate, and belonging layers of meaning wrapped in that one jaunty phrase. That second is what, more than anything else, sends this track up from strong to stunning. For a hopeful song, Matthew Heller has offered us more hope than just a song; he's given us a reason to keep believing.

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