Zach Berkman - THE HEART OF (2023) Hi-Res

There’s twofold intrigue here: it’s the first we’ve heard of this artist but is a whopping nineth album release from Nashville based singer-songwriter Zach Berkman. Then there’s the cryptic title…… which I learn is jointly named after an area Zach Berkman was raised in Peoria, Illinois, known as “the heart of” the state and also reflects his desire to reach “the centre of the idea” within his work.

Job nicely done as the truth of the matter is he’s produced an outstanding collection of a dozen expressive songs all in his own style of Folk Pop mixed with Indie angst, creating an atmospheric and expansive album.
It could sit in my collection slap bang in the middle of Paul Simon and Radiohead yet it’s Berkman’s sensitive, compelling vocals that are central to why this album is so spellbinding.

The striking opener Sleep Tight floats in with free spirited plucked strings and sparce keys until soft strums lull us rhythmically in, introducing the aforementioned vocals: intimate almost to a whisper, like the secrets he’s sharing are for our ears only.
Delicate vocal harmonies layer the chorus but the real force of the song comes with a dramatic build up, fiery emotions rising alongside the intensity of the ever louder, driving vocals and acoustic strums, until we share his acute anger and pain of losing a love and not being able to move on:

“It’s been a long time, you’ve stayed on my mind
Dreams that I couldn’t shake, like a habit I couldn’t break”

After grabbing our attention so theatrically, the next two tracks ease us into the main chamber of the album, a collective harmony, both musically and in the wider sense.
After a life-changing break-up, how different this album might have sounded if this artist had worked alone.
Instead, he invites a gang of his musician mates including co-producer Ron Pope, round to his parents’ rural farmhouse to hang out and make the record.
The end result: a bunch of songs that lyrically convey this artist’s honest response to experiencing love and loss, but also flow organically within this communal positivity and instrumentation to construct an album that is as upbeat as it is heartfelt.
The fast pickin’ second single My Old Friend, comes complete with a rumbling world tribal rhythm beat chorus and an air of comforting nostalgia as the songwriter reconnects with someone from his past as he sings:

“If I deceive you, it’s my mistake
Confusing kindness for change”

The pace is eased back with the melancholic rolling beat ballad of Lie Awake, crashing cymbals courtesy of Justin Glasco have the last word, also giving an explosive quality to On The Vine which explores the theme of casually letting go of a loved one and regretting it later. With a catchy melody, and deliciously uptempo, it just narrowly misses out to be a favourite.

The pacey rhythm continues with the first single Alone, tapping out an infectious beat as a backdrop to the start of a relationship breakdown, comparing it to a decaying home, still retaining the hope that it can be mended.
The new single, Get Found, with serenely hypnotic guitar pickin’, is a soul-searching confession at life’s crossroads with dramatic keys and erupting percussion all set for a firework finale.
Picking a favourite has been near impossible! Fooled Me Once, like the opener, is smouldering with a steady strum pounding like an emotionally heavy heartbeat, full of relationship discord. It’s delivered with sensitive vocals and has to be runner up along with Turn It All Around.

The latter has an unexpected ‘80’s drum and keys chorus which gives this song a retro feel, sounds incongruous to the rest of the album but it works and in that bygone era, this hefty anthemic song would place Zack Berkman on TOTP’s and in the top twenty in a flash!
So, just top billing left. Empire is beyond doubt my favourite vocal performance, soulful against a curtain of stripped-down keys and mighty drums with a bluesy beat that delivers goosebumps.

The drums thunder and crash, adding so much extra emotion to an already epic song for which the description is “standing in the same place, feeling older and calling it new.”

Zach Berkman has taken a huge step forward in both personal and musical truths with this impressive album. Be in no doubt, at the heart of it all, this album is a ‘Keeper’.