London musician Jack Bzowski is releasing music under the alias of Fat Heart. Jack performed and recorded everything on his impressive debut EP, Everything Is, in his home studio. We have really enjoyed this bedroom pop single, Glass Self, and I believe you’ll dig it too.
The song opens with a bright electric guitar, slowly strumming and panned on the right. A drum loop kicks in right away and bass down in the mix. The guitar tone draws your attention, but it’s an analog-sounding synth playing off the guitar that sets the tone of the song.
His vocals come in with a doubled melodic palm-muted guitar. His main vocal during the verses have an autotuned sound, pushed back into the mix. He opens with an expression of wanting to get past a place he’s been in… a story that reflected on through the EP.
I’m gonna take a bath
Fat Heart – “Glass Self” (Bandcamp)
And get cleaner and cleaner
And shatter that glass self
That I’ve been building and building
And breathe in some new air
That is cleaner and cleaner
This isn’t the default, I just want to be born
There are several guitar layers during the second verse that sound so nice. The palm-muted guitar mentioned before, and two guitars on the right and left have instinctive melodies that interplay well.
Moved in with my best friend
FAT HEART – “GLASS SELF” (BANDCAMP)
Then the sweetheart left the earth in death
I love her like the first day
When she was covered in a silver sack
These feelings don’t depart
They imprint down your brain and back
God I miss her, want to kiss her and be a loving hand amongst the black
The chorus has great vocals behind the main, I think I count six layers, each sitting behind the main with the help of reverb. These vocals really make the song for me. They’re very smooth. There’s a beautiful synth that blends perfectly with these supporting vocals, filling the sound out.
I see different
FAT HEART – “GLASS SELF” (BANDCAMP)
There is a hole where there should’ve been something
Years of thinking
I can not change, I’ve been programmed this way
Lost in dreaming
Just to escape, escape another day
At 2:25 the music dies down, and the synths that supported the harmonies take the song forward, adding a nice dynamic in the song. Slowly, layers of the chorus are added back in to carry the song to the end.
The rest of the four-track EP sounds really good. Glass Self is the standout single. Our Sound reminds me of Elliott Smith quite a bit (I love and miss Elliott, so that’s a good thing). Listening to the lyrics of these songs, the EP is a very personal one for Jack, as he processes losing someone really close, dealing with the deep pain from this loss, and struggling to heal a year later. There’s nothing like the writing and recording process to work through difficult things, and we hope Jack continues to create.
You can find Glass Self on SoundCloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube, and Apple Music.
Fat Heart links: