The XCERTS just released their brand new studio album Hold on to Your Heart today. It’s been a long time coming and they flew under the radar up until recently so call it a surprise Friday treat.
The newest full-length effort of the Scottish rockers is the first since 2014’s LP There Is Only You (plus a couple of EPs in 2015) and finds the band at their prime. Quite unable to name other artists who have done it recently, but opening track, “The Dark,” brilliantly builds up from melancholic piano-driven vibe while vocals tense with emotion to the moment that eventually kicks off “Daydream” – the single along with “Feels Like Falling In Love” that turns The XCERTS into the newest pioneers of modern arena rock.
The rest of the record is mainly feeding off of this direction but they also kept more alternative traits of previous materials (see “First Kiss Feeling” and “Show Me Beautiful”) that still tie them to their roots. The saxophone on “Drive Me Wild” is one bold and sophisticated experiment. We hear it return once again for a solo on closing track “Cry,” which returns the mood (in a rather self-explanatory way) to where it all started.
If there were one record you must listen to on this New Music Friday, Hold on to Your Heart by The XCERTS should be it. It’s out now on Raygun Records!
