Heath McNease is an insanely prolific artist. Between 2012 and 2015 he had no less than 7 releases, alternating between hip-hop, folk music, and mixtapes. In the middle of this breakneck output, he decided to partner with fellow folk musician Jetty Rae for a duet project called “Pen Pals”. The resulting album “Gold” was a bright spot among both artists discography and captured a moment in time perfectly.
The album’s lyrics create a concept album about a brief summer romance and the inevitable heartache that follows. I can’t say I’ve ever heard a song so perfectly reflect the feeling of being 14 and excited about camp as well as the song “Camp”, and the follow up songs perfectly express the feelings of young love and all the emotions that entails. One of my favorite tracks is “Mary & Martha” which has our narrator processing a breakup through the lens of the Biblical story of Jesus saving the women caught in adultery. This mindset is exactly how my teenage brain functioned, processing everything through my faith as it was all I had ever known. The final track “July” brings the story to a close with 20/20 wisdom that only hindsight can bring. Like so many things in life when you are young, sometimes you have to learn the hard way this too shall pass. As stated earlier this all too brief ep is an absolute delight with McNease’s and Rae’s voice’s weaving in and out and ultimately blending so perfectly together. It’s fortunate that these two Pen Pals decided to keep intermittently making music together, but much like your first love, there is something special, innocent, and even golden about this first project they made together. Suggest Tracks: Camp Gold Mary & Martha
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