Heart Ships

Heart Ships

Heart Ships are a Leeds-based band, playing together since December 2009. The project begins with Ryan and Winterbird, who decide to keep writing and performing together after several failed attempts to form fuller bands. Their early work is an acoustic three-piece with the addition of Dave Hill, and they rehearse and perform in Leeds basements before the group’s sound expands.

Line-up and development

Matt, Alex and Josh later join the band, adding to the instrumentation and helping shape the songs into a larger and more arranged sound. The group’s first demos are recorded at Cannonball Studios in Leeds in April 2010. Heart Ships describe their music as having a wide, unruly range, and their live set is presented as a place where many new songs appear in progress.

Style

The band is associated with indie rock and is compared in style to acts such as Sunset Rubdown, Modest Mouse, The Microphones, Patrick Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens, Dirty Projectors and The Flaming Lips. Their sound is described as moving between raucous, anything-goes indie rock and more acoustic beginnings before expanding into a fuller band arrangement.