iSound

The Black Heart Procession took root in San Diego in 1997, when Pall Jenkins (vocals, guitars, synths, etc.) and Tobias Nathaniel (piano, guitar, organ, etc.) put their previous band, Three Mile Pilot, on an open-ended hiatus. They are the core members of Black Heart, joined by drummer Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse, the Magic Magicians), bassist Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf) and violinist Matt Resovich (The Album Leaf). The Spell is the most fitting name yet for a Black Heart Procession record. True, One and Two and Three have economy on their side, and Amore del Tropico nodded toward the intrigue within. But The Spell nails it. Spells are cast over a person, a love affair, a nation, a world; they enchant and entrap, disorient and delude. They are the heart of this record, both the webs they spin and the snap that occurs when they’re broken. And there is no better word to describe the spooky intoxication of The Black Heart Procession’s sound. Theirs is the sound of driving at night a...