“All They Want” by Heartour

In a pulsating fashion that will only grow stronger, we find the gentleness of a sly rhythm. Joining it soon enough is a melody so muted and simple, and yet when juxtaposed beside the atonal backdrop, it couldn’t be much more hypnotizing. Soon, the voice of Jason Young slips into view and joins in a heavenly harmony with the strings. This is “All They Want,” the brand-new single from the newly California-stationed solo outfit Heartour, and it’s packing a punch that is almost guaranteed to shake your floorboards, provoke thoughts from within, and more than anything else, stoke the sort of excitement that only a solid rock song can.

The verses that lead into the chorus ascend with a reserved hesitance for what feels like an eternity, but all the while, Heartour maintains a relaxed swagger that is infectious to say the very least. His confident demeanor bleeds into the abrasive tonality of the bassline, and though there’s enough noise simmering just beneath the percussion to silence the loudest of stadium crowds with its sharp resonance, it doesn’t even come close to impeding the flow of the lyrical lashings. Jason Young keeps the enigmas to a minimum here, but he flirts with avant-garde prose that makes for a very sensuous addition to an already sterling sonic environment in the song.

Heartour employs every weapon at his disposal during the assaultive chorus of “All They Want,” and stops just short of abandoning the melodic core that makes the hook as memorable as it is.

His agile treatment of a traditional pop groove sounds remarkably fresh, and while it reminds me a bit of early Fun, it’s not ironically psychedelic enough for me to consider it a product of the late 2000s sound. Young doesn’t lean too heavily on his influences here, and I get the impression that garnering comparisons to artists of yesteryear is the last thing he’s looking for as a contemporary songwriter.

“All They Want” concludes in a tidal wave of instrumental destruction which suddenly gives way to a haunting, echoed outro that leaves anyone with a taste for rock itching to hear more from the session that it was cut from, and perhaps whatever other material this player has been developing as of late. Whether you fell for Heartour in his LP R U IN or have just discovered his music recently, I would highly recommend giving his latest single your attention this fall, as it sports a space-aged rock groove that is unlike any other that you’re going to come in contact with this year.

He’s still got some ground left to cover artistically, but “All They Want” is undeniably Jason Young in his rawest and most focused form to date. There’s no debatable center in this piece; it’s a collective effort from every component before us, and I wouldn’t change a thing about that. What’s clear after even a cursory sit-down with Heartour right now is that he’s not apologizing for his eclecticisms; in fact, he’s using them to his advantage in a whole new way right now.

Mindy McCall