Close your eyes and hear any of its songs, and Thornhill’s epic sophomore full-length will transport its listener’s imagination to scenes of classic Hollywood.
Riding a creative wave driven by an affection for the glam and charm of this style, Thornhill’s Jacob Charlton (vocals/lyrics) and Ethan McCann (guitar/production) birthed Heroine – a vivid anthology of stories set to a dynamic, cinema-inspired score.
“Arkangel’ was the first song to really get the writing process rolling,” shares Ethan of his mid-lockdown creative drought. “Once I had the intro, first verse and the chorus down I noticed all these parts created a certain mood and set of visuals in my imagination…. it was reminding me of the Buffy intro credits with that super late '90s, cheesy, glossy film look.
“I ended up laying the demo I had on top of a video of the credits and I found pairing it with those visuals really helped me develop the song because I could treat it almost like writing a film score.”
What began as an experimental way to crack ‘Arkangel’ soon sparked a creative avalanche for Ethan, who – suddenly speaking the same language as the already-cinema obsessed Jacob – began treating every track in a way he’d never considered before: as though he was writing for film. From there, Heroine was born.
Listeners will no doubt hear the moody and anthemic ‘Varsity Hearts’ and picture scenes from She’s All That, and be transported into the world of James Bond amid the spy-like breakdowns of ‘Casanova’. Elsewhere, the album references the sounds and styles of some of Hollywood’s most classic titles like Singing In The Rain, American Beauty and Baz Luhrmann’s epic Romeo & Juliet.
Enamoured with storytelling and screenplay, Jacob honed his love of penning lyrics as if mini movies throughout the writing process. Led by the direction Ethan’s production took his imagination, he crafted Heroine’s lyrics to match the energy of the music.
“[The lyrics] are my version of the story these scores could be set to,” he explains. “They’re my interpretations of how I would write the screenplay, direct and shoot it alongside the vibe of the track… I was just writing along the lines of how I feel and what I see, hear and imagine.” unfdcentral.com
“I really wanted to touch on sadness in a way that [listeners] haven't heard it in our genre…it's not sad, but it's melancholy in a very intimate way,” he adds of the album’s stories spanning themes like love, lust, self-reflection, and self-loathing.
Propped up against their acclaimed 2019 debut album The Dark Pool, there’s a profound new sense of clarity, vision and intention to be heard on Heroine. Where The Dark Pool touched fans with its mix of crushing riffage and atmospheric metalcore, this record finds Thornhill flexing their skills in the alternative and rock worlds, referencing a tapestry of sounds from the likes of Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to Silverchair and Deftones. At the same time harking to flavours of modern metalcore, Thornhill ultimately want to showcase what can be made of heavy and rock music when there are no borders. Heroine does just this, and comes complete with elevated visuals and theatrics to match.
Jacob shares that part of his growth during the album’s creation was finally nailing his own character and style as a vocalist and frontman –much like his performance idols such as Elvis, Justin Timberlake and Gwen Stefani pioneered in their own ways.
“I realised you're not just singing your lyrics, you're emoting. You’re conveying a message or a feeling not only through vocals, but through performance,” he muses. “Ethan really brought that vibe to the instrumentation, and I was left thinking, "Oh, I can't just sing or scream over this…. what can I do to match that energy he's presented here, but in a way that people haven't heard it in a metal setting?” I realised I needed my own character. I needed to bring that Elvis-y confidence and emotion to my performance to really be able to bring people into the world of what I’m singing about.
” Drawn to the class and flare of those whole package-type artists and performers, Heroine finds Jacob channeling elements of his masculinity, his femininity, his vulnerability, and his extravagance into every aspect of his performance and aesthetic.
Sealed with the cohesive dynamic of the full band channeling their own characters, all together Heroine is a stunning listening and visual experience. This is Thornhill levelling up on the astounding success of The Dark Pool and ultimately proving their vision and creativity stretches well beyond the small walls of metalcore. Like the films that inspired it, Heroine is poised to go down as a tasteful, classic piece of art, enjoying repeat-listen after repeat-listen for years to come.
