All Poets & Heroes is an indie-rock band whose Spotify is full of little wonders, like "Wine Song" or "Cruel". Accustomed to frenzied electric guitars, the band offers us in its new single "21", out today, an almost naked performance. The track opens with Rob's incredible vocals and just an acoustic guitar. Then instruments are added as the song progresses. And the song then brings us all the necessary ingredients to trigger chills.

The piano-acoustic guitar mix is ​​what we have always loved at IMC. And the songs that start from scratch to give us a goosebump-filled climax are our favorites. "21" is one of them. Fragile at the start, solid at the end. Like a small thread that we unwind from a spool, innocently, until we find ourselves overwhelmed by a pile of wool higher than us.

And this mastery of intensity is not an easy thing to master when you are a musician. We are sometimes tempted to do too much. Or conversely, we are afraid to add more for fear of losing the nature of the song. At All Poets & Heroes, the dosage is perfectly measured.

The band has in the past been compared to Radiohead for their "depressing" melodies. I agree to say that they are in the same register as Radiohead, from the point of view of the concept: it is a band that succeeded in creating its own musical universe and its own sound identity. And that kind of unique-sounding band tends to fade away, unfortunately, mostly to satisfy radio programmers who want a polished sound that's identical to anything out there.

If you have a little time, you will enjoy, as I did, browsing the Spotify of Rob and his friends, and you will discover that they are "jacks of all trades". They know how to do everything. And they master their art like no other. Their discography is like a book made of several chapters and whose sequence is very logical. You could almost believe that "21" is a UFO, after listening to the "Where We Lived and What We Lived For" EP released in 2017. The change is radical but overall logical, it's just the natural evolution of a band that continues to renew itself.

Imbued with nostalgia, "21" is the kind of song you listen to in the evening, when you don't know what to do to forget the hassles of everyday life. And this leaves you with an impression of both comfort because she amazed you with her beauty and her power, but also of uncertainty, because despite the fact that Rob repeats "I'll be fine", we are not sure that this is either the case. Yes, the song leaves room for doubt until the last second, with this incredible acoustic guitar and these breathtaking vocals. The final piano note is like a red light that puts an end to the protagonist's suffering, in a brutal and direct way.

To conclude, I would say that "21" is a masterpiece, as much by its construction in crescendo, as by its emotional writing, and the sublime superposition of small rather discreet production elements.

Reach out to All Poets & Heroes

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Written with love by Niko. "21" has been added to our "Indie Music" playlist on Spotify.