Leeds duo EEVAH find cathartic release on their infectious and in-your-face anthem “Heartbeat Is Missing,” a raw, spirited eruption of piping hot indie pop passion that hits hard and leaves a lasting mark as the band attempt to ‘simplify life’ through letting it all out, one song at a time.
Stream: “Heartbeat Is Missing” – EEVAH
We all have our own ways of coping.
Some folks like to cook, read, paint, or write; some go for jogs or let off steam in the weight room.
And some very people get it all out in song. Writing and recording music doesn’t mean whatever’s troubling us or causing tension within is suddenly fixed; none of these coping mechanisms solve for x, but what makes music such a special art form is that, once you’ve made it, you’ll forever have this tangible canvas that captures your lived human experience in a way that can be shared with anyone and everyone. All that pain and visceral emotion you poured into your coping mechanism can be heard and felt by the rest of the world.
Not every song is necessarily a lifeline, but “Heartbeat Is Missing” certainly feels like one. A raw eruption of piping hot indie pop passion, Leeds duo EEVAH’s latest single is a spirited in-your-face anthem of epic proportions. The UK band find cathartic release through a full-bodied barnburner that hits hard and leaves a lasting mark as they reckon with life’s all-consuming turmoil and inevitable volatility.
I wanna live on a landslide
I wanna win when i don’t try
I wanna live to a hundred, without you
Right foot in the wrong lane
I’m just too young for the chest pains
It’s such an effort to not change around you
Because, this heart beat is missing
I don’t wanna break yours, but you never listen
This heartbeat is missing
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Heartbeat Is Missing,” EEVAH’s second song of the year and the latest single off their forthcoming EP, Simplify Life (independently out 23 May 2024). Together for six years now and based in Halifax, West Yorkshire (just outside of Leeds), EEVAH is the brainchild/emotional vessel of Nicole Smith and Rick McNamara.
Since their founding, the DIY duo have created worlds in their music that invite listeners to dwell in deep end of the emotional spectrum. From the cinematic guitars and evocative shouts on 2020’s “The Wire” to the dramatic drums and sweltering synth pads of their last single “Say It’s Just Us,” EEVAH are unapologetically intense and graciously welcoming to all who take the plunge and press play.
“Heartbeat Is Missing” sees the pair performing at a 10, channeling heated emotions into an energetic, electrifying performance that sends shivers down the spine and makes our hairs stand on end.
Guitars rage and roar as Smith sings hot on the mic, holding nothing back as she spills her guts with both grace and fury:
I wanna live on the outside
I’ll never see it through your eyes
I fell apart for the first time around you
Everyone’s had a heartbreak
you sold me out on a handshake
They’re putting me in the remake about you
Because, this heart beat is missing
I don’t wanna break yours, but you never listen
This heartbeat is missing
“We have quite an intuitive way of writing that has no boundaries or direction,” EEVAH’s multi-instrumentalist and producer Richard McNamara tells Atwood Magazine. “To begin with, we’re just kind of feeling it out, which can lead us down dead ends sometimes or take us on massive detours along the way. Ideas come to you through improvisation where you remove the boundaries or judgement upon what you’re saying and just let it flow, then you go back and unpick the enormous ball of knitting you’ve just dropped all over the page and try to make sense of it. What resonates, what captures your imagination? You’ve just got to trust the process because at times it can be quite comical and comes totally booby trapped with imposter syndrome.”
“‘Heartbeat is Missing’ was one of those songs,” he explains. “There were a couple of lyrical couplets that were strong, but at the time we didn’t know why, and at that point in our journey we felt like being a band was getting out of control and demanding everything from us that we didn’t have. The layers of tasks we have to do as a DIY band that take us away from the music is sometimes overwhelming. The line ‘I wanna live on a landslide’ resonated with the chaos and the whole idea that living as a full time artist requires a certain level of delusion or perhaps faith, but it wasn’t sticking and when we went back and listened to the first session and the small voice of what was being made up on the spot, whilst writing it, we discovered we were talking about just that… the small voice.”
“The voice inside that wants to be heard but somehow gets ignored or never spoken and at that point the approach became much more angry. Where does that polite, people pleasing, self destructive habit come from? Is it inherited behaviour? We all hold back on what we’re really thinking at some point, but if it’s happening on a daily basis eventually you’ll just become numb. My favourite line in the whole song is ‘WHY DON’T YOU SAY WHAT YOU FEEL’ – both the intent and the way it’s delivered totally nail it. That’s all being an artist is about, ultimately: Giving your interpretation or observation of life and how you feel about it.”
Sonically seismic and emotionally sweltering, “Heartbeat Is Missing” is bold, unfiltered, and uncompromising – a ferocious, high-octane outpouring that ensures, without a shadow of a doubt, that we all feel everything EEVAH put into this song. And it’s all a testament to the raw power they managed to achieve in their recording.
“After the initial jam we found ourselves debating which Nirvana album was better, Nevermind or In Utero, without coming to any conclusion really I don’t think, but ‘Heart Shaped Box’ from In Utero definitely seems to have been haunting the room when we were first writing it,” McNamara smiles. “It’s got that grungy feel to it. We wanted it to be angular and ferocious and something that you look forward to when you play it live. We were throwing fists in the air as it was being recorded, pulling all the shapes y’know like a manifestation… we were performing it into existence.”
Stream EEVAH’s “Heartbeat Is Missing” exclusively on Atwood Magazine and feel the full weight of the world come crashing down on this stunning song.
But they say it’s handed down
But we all know were better out of it
When the ceilings are coming down
Somebody said it’s handed down
but we all know were better out of it
And now the ceilings are coming down
Why don’t you say what you feel?
This heartbeat is missing
I don’t wanna break yours, but you never listen
This heartbeat is missing
This heartbeat is missing
I don’t wanna break yours, but you never listen
This heart beat is missing
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Stream: “Heartbeat Is Missing” – EEVAH
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© Simon Walker
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