Brooklyn’s Hank Heaven channels their own humanity and vulnerability into ten achingly evocative songs on debut album ‘Loaded Dice,’ a beautifully tender, brutally raw record reckoning with love and loss, gambling, and addiction.
Stream: “Most of All” – Hank Heaven ft. Renny Conti
With the odds forever stacked against us and so much at stake, it’s no wonder love feels like a betting game.
Only instead of wagering money, we’re wagering our hearts.
And while the wins are that much greater, so, too, are the losses.
“If I can bet on it, I’m gonna bet on it,” Hank Heaven sings at the top of their debut album. “Lucky mother*ers don’t play by the rules.” Yet as we come to learn over the next half hour, (a) there are no ‘rules’ when it comes to love, and (b) whatever luck we think we have can turn sour in an instant.
It may not be the ‘healthiest’ approach to intimacy and romance, but you can’t fault the perspective; after all, beyond gut feelings, it also comes down to science: The parts of the brain that allow us to experience love are the same ones that reward a ‘big win’ on the slot machines.
The only problem, of course, is that when we turn love into a game to be played, rather than an emotion – a life! – to be shared with a special someone, then everybody ultimately loses. Hank Heaven channels their own humanity and vulnerability into ten achingly evocative songs on Loaded Dice, a beautifully tender, brutally raw album reckoning with love and loss, gambling, and addiction.
Throwing up rocks making it count
Outside your window won’t you come out
Kept your light on you stayed awake
Waiting up for me just gotta say
I’m seeing diamonds in your eyes
think I’ll love you for all time
No matter what they make me do
I don’t need no crystal ball
I’ll always love you most of all
Until the sun starts turning blue
It’s always gonna be
It’s always gonna be you
– “Most of All,” Hank Heaven
Independently released November 15th, 2024, Loaded Dice is a seductive and soul-stirring longform introduction to Hank Heaven. The Brooklyn-based artist’s emotionally charged debut album arrives as a reintroduction, in many ways, to the singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who debuted mononymously as ‘Hank’ just two years ago.
In featuring Hank’s debut EP Call Me Hank last year, Atwood Magazine praised their seamless blend of genres and authentic emotions. “Cool, confident, and achingly unfiltered, Call Me Hank is a dazzling coming-of-age record full of raw passion and real pain, cathartic country and hypnotic hyperpop, and everything in-between,” we wrote at the time.
Hank found their voice in stories that bridged reality and fantasy and songs that blurred genre lines. Sounds, styles, and worlds collided on the passionate and raw, feverish and fragile Call Me Hank, a singular introduction that came into being with the help of Hippo Campus’ dynamic frontman and producer Jake Luppen (Charly Bliss, Samia) and co-writer Raffaella Meloni, who performs as Raffaella (Atwood Magazine featured her EP, LIVE, RAFF, LOVE (ACT II), earlier this year).
Loaded Dice leans a little less heavily on hyperpop than some of the artist’s past releases, instead dwelling in that ethereal space between indie folk, indie pop, and ‘indie twang.’ It’s the perfect way to debut a new name with a more focused, yet no less expansive, sound.
“I wanted to individualize more,” they say of the name change (or really, expansion). “‘Heaven’ seemed like a name that could take on many forms as who I am as an artist changes.”
Hank Heaven once again teamed up with Jake Luppen to produce their album, recording with him in Minneapolis. While the record is without a doubt conceptual in nature, Hank Heaven wrote it all from a place of personal experience. “It was so vulnerable for me to write and talk about, that I began thinking about it in this concept of a gambler’s life,” they tell Atwood Magazine. “It follows these highs and lows of someone with an addiction. This really allowed for the vulnerabilities of the songs to come forward.”
“I didn’t have the gambler concept in mind when I first started writing it, but after recording some of the tracks it was clear that the record has a lot to do with loneliness and shame It was comforting to write about it from a different narrative than my own. I think as time went on, I began to really lean into those feelings.”
They candidly describe Loaded Dice as cheeky, vulnerable, and gritty. The album’s title is another nod to the gambling metaphor, and one that helps bring the music’s full vision into perspective. “Loaded Dice is what they call dice that are weighted,” they explain. “It signifies that no matter how much you bet, the odds will be against you and you will be left with nothing.”
Highlights abound on the journey from album opener “Reno” to closer “Wish It Were You” – a musical and emotional adventure that introduces us to our gambling protagonist and sees them put their heart and soul through the wringer time and again. Songs like “Matchstick,” “Beloved” (featuring Beach Bunny), “Most of All” (featuring Renny Conti), and “Gracie” hit the hardest on a visceral level, while more upbeat tracks like “Plan 2,” “Designer Dog,” and “GPS” prove as irresistibly catchy as they are achingly expressive.
Hank Heaven describes “Most of All,” a genuine love song with bittersweet undertones, as one of their favorites, adding that “GPS” has become a sleeper favorite.
“It’s about looking for universal truth and how sometimes what you believe to be an intrinsic truth ends up being just a little off,” they say of the latter song. “Just keep searching!”
Meanwhile their favorite lyrics comes in the album’s finale: “The town’s mad ‘cause the dirt road runs into the streams kills the creek life but I like the way it feels on my feet.”
“I think the thesis of this album is how when you stray from who you really are, you are left feeling extremely lonely,” they explain. “I put this song at the end because it’s the character’s final look at their life. They are accepting of their actions and they verbalize what they really want: To be a good person.”
I would’ve taken the high road
but that’s not somewhere you could go
Would’ve given everything I wrote
to use it all as your own
Then you went on and crossed me
in the quietest way
So then I left for the high road
but I kinda wanted to stay
Sucks being alone
hating you, I did you a favor
Sucks holding a grudge
with someone beloved
who’ll just use you later
Ultimately, Loaded Dice proves an enchanting introduction to Hank Heaven’s artistry and humanity, while taking listeners on an emotional rollercoaster journey through love, gambling, and addiction.
“I think this album gave me the space and clarity to lean into my strengths,” Hank Heaven shares. “I realized writing it that I love to story tell through my songs, and although I grew up mainly as an instrumentalist, lyrics mean so much to me. I think this album let me step into myself as a songwriter.”
They continue, “I hope people can relate to the feelings of loneliness and that it’s okay to make mistakes and that does not make you a bad person. It’s about accepting your faults and moving forward.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Hank Heaven’s Loaded Dice with Atwood Magazine as they take us track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their debut album!
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:: stream/purchase Loaded Dice here ::
:: connect with Hank Heaven here ::
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Stream: ‘Loaded Dice’ – Hank Heaven
:: Inside Loaded Dice ::
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Reno
The guitar and the strings give me Toy Story vibes and that felt very fitting to begin this story. I wanted the album to be conceptual and tell the story of the rise and fall of a gambler. “Reno” is the introduction to this character.
Designer Dog
The beginning of the album focuses on the rise of the gambler and their delusional attempts at “winning” love. It’s a fun song but in the scope of the album is actually quite sad because the character is out of touch with themselves and reality.
Matchstick
This one is about reality setting in and making the hard decision of letting someone go before it gets ugly.
Plan 2
The character begins to look inward and wants to better themselves but keeps messing it up. Like when you say you’re not going out tonight and then suddenly it’s 6 AM and you’re rolling at the Rockaways. It happens.
Most of All (ft. Renny Conti)
This one ended up being one of my favorite tracks on the record. It’s a love song but in the entirety of the album it’s again kind of sad. The character is betting everything on this relationship.
GPS
I love this song so much. It’s about looking for universal truth and how sometimes what you believe to be an intrinsic truth ends up being just a little off. Just keep searching!
Beloved (ft. Beach Bunny)
I think this is the point of the record where this gambler starts getting in touch with how they are deeply feeling. They are hurting and leaning into that. I remember writing it and I was just angry. All I could come up with was “Sucks being alone hating you.” There is a lot of loneliness in hate. I wanted to have a feature on this song because loneliness is such a universal experience.
Glass
There is a loneliness in waiting for forgiveness and I wanted to write a song talking about that. It’s the point of the record where the character sees their life clearly. They are left to try and mend their relationships in the wake of their gambling addiction.
Gracie
I love house music and wanted to have one EDM song on the record. It’s really about finding someone who shows you that you are worthy of love. It shows the character growing by acknowledging how precious that is and choosing to put it aside to heal themselves.
Wish It Were You
I think the thesis of this album is how when you stray from who you really are, you are left feeling extremely lonely. I put this song at the end because it’s the character’s final look at their life. They are accepting of their actions and they verbalize what they really want: To be a good person.
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:: stream/purchase Loaded Dice here ::
:: connect with Hank Heaven here ::
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