Latest news with #Hearts'
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Ryan Walsh on the ambitious new 54-track Hallelujah the Hills album
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Inspired by albums including the Magnetic Fields' 1999 opus '69 Love Songs,' Walsh and his bandmates built 'DECK' around a structure ubiquitous in our culture: playing cards, divided into clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. Advertisement 'Literally everyone has at least one deck in a junk drawer somewhere in the house,' says Walsh, who did the artwork for a Hallelujah the Hills bespoke deck to accompany the quadruple album. The deck of cards, which comes with a code to download the album, is available at Advertisement Once he presented the idea to the band and set up a crowd-funding arrangement on Patreon, Walsh assigned himself the task of writing a new song every week to bring to Hallelujah the Hills' Monday rehearsals (they recorded 54 of the 65 songs he brought in). After digging into his own psyche on 'I'm You,' he was also determined this time to avoid autobiography. 'Is there anything more self-indulgent than 54 special songs about all the troubles you've been through?,' Walsh asks, laughing. 'There's maybe one or two that drifts in there, but I was really trying to write fiction, you know, characters and scenarios that the listener could pour themselves into.' Walsh wrote without considering which suit the songs would belong to. Once the band arranged his sketches, the proper category seemed to suggest itself. 'Hearts' is for the sparser, more emotional songs. 'Clubs' comprises up-tempo rockers, while songs on 'Diamonds' lent themselves to big studio treatments, with horns and strings. 'Spades' became a repository for the weirder material. The result is a range of sounds evoking different moods: there's the yearning piano ballad 'Something Great (Jack of Hearts),' a fist-pumping sing-along feel on the rootsy rocker 'Burn This Atlas Down (2 of Clubs)', taut energy tangled up in a swirl of strings and guitars on the cathartic 'Rebuilding Year (4 of Diamonds)' and a catalog of crackpot conspiracy theories delivered with worrisome self-assurance over a repeating piano figure on 'No One Remembers Their Names (10 of Spades)'. Advertisement 'I wrote that song on Fourth of July,' Walsh says. 'I was thinking about US history and QAnon was still in the ether. And I was like, well, that's already crazier than I ever thought would be in the public dialogue. Let me try to go further.' For the first time, Hallelujah the Hills handed the microphone to other singers for some songs on 'DECK.' Many of the guest musicians have ties to Boston, which lends a sense of community to the project. 'No One Remembers Their Names' features lead vocals from Evan Sicuranza, who mixed many of the tracks on 'DECK' and played with Walsh in a previous band, the Stairs. The project also includes Clint Conley from Mission of Burma, 'Instantly I wished I had thought of it,' says Furman, a 2008 Tufts graduate who last month released her new album, 'Goodbye Small Head.' 'I just love a giant idea organized to a system like that. It sounded like the crazy kind of thing I would think of and be like, 'But that's impossible.'' Dupuis has known Walsh long enough to have heard him mention the idea for 'DECK' before the band started working on it. As someone 'with great respect for Ryan,' Dupuis was happy to join him on 'Crush All Night (5 of Clubs)', a song with grainy guitars and a thrumming rhythm that he has described as 'dirtbag rock,' to her delight. Advertisement 'A lot of times bands will give me the album's quiet songs to do a pretty duet on,' Dupuis said by email. 'I'm like, 'Let me rock, cowards. Let me yell.' Was thrilled the Hills let me rock — and they let me DIRTBAG rock, at that.' Though Hallelujah the Hills spent 2½ years working on 'DECK,' the band is determined not to be precious about the project, or how listeners engage with it. With so many different songs, there are plenty of ways to combine them: 635 billion, according to an insert in the band's deck of cards, which suggests compiling favorites into a playlist, or drawing 13 cards at random and building an 'audio tarot reading specifically for you.' 'Do whatever you want: Chop it up, like one song, like them all, listen to it in order,' Walsh says. 'It's kind of like materials for people to play with.' HALLELUJAH THE HILLS With Ugly Moon and Choo Choo La Rouge. Friday, June 20, 8 p.m. Myrtle, 134 Waterman Ave., East Providence. Free. With Bongwish and Choo Choo La Rouge. Saturday, June 21, 8 p.m., Deep Cuts, 21 Main St., Medford. $18 in advance, $20 at the door.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Hearts head abroad to play EFL club as they organise a pre-season training camp
Crawley match will be Derek McInnes' first as he prepares for new SPFL season Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Derek McInnes' first match in charge of Hearts will be against English League Two side Crawley Town next month. The Edinburgh club will face Crawley during a week-long training camp in south-east Spain to prepare for the start of season 2025/26. The friendly match will take place behind closed doors, giving McInnes his first look at players following his appointment as Hearts head coach last month. The 53-year-old is working on more new signings before the trip after Christian Borchgrevink, Alexandros Kyziridis, Elton Kabangu and Oisin McEntee all agreed deals to move to Tynecastle Park. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hearts' first competitive match of the new campaign takes place on 12 July at Tynecastle against Neil Lennon's Dunfermline Athletic. That is the opening fixture in the Premier Sports Cup group stage, and McInnes is eager for his new-look side to be ready for business. 'Trips like these are a vital part of preparing properly for the season ahead,' he told the official Hearts website. 'The benefits the players will get from intense training sessions in that kind of heat are clear, and that is crucial for us as we look to hit the ground running when the season starts. 'It's also good for the players to spend time with each other. We've got some new faces, mine included, so for everyone to be in the one place and around each other for a whole week will be great for building relationships.' The warm-weather training will be intense for Hearts' first-team squad, with a week of double and triple sessions planned on top of gym work. Temperatures are expected to be touching 30 degrees by early July and the heat will place extra demands on players. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad New Hearts signings for season 2025/26 New recruits Borchgrevink, Kyziridis and McEntee will report to Riccarton with the rest of the squad on 20 June when Hearts' pre-season programme begins. Initial body testing and fitness work will take place at the club's training base on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Preparations will then step up once they land in Spain. McInnes has made clear that he will demand the highest standards from everyone at Hearts. Speaking last week, he outlined his feelings. 'I don't want to come in here and shout from the hip: 'We're going to do this and we're going to do that.' I just think we've got to work confidently, quietly, under the radar,' he stressed. 'We don't need to drum things up, the fans are there. They're just waiting for it. They're just waiting for something to happen, really. We just need to get their trust and I need to earn that trust. The players need to earn that. They need to know that when they turn that every week, they've got a team who are going to compete. 'We want to be brilliant every week. The Scottish league doesn't always allow that. When you're working with players, you've got to accept as a manager, you know your players aren't going to be tip-top every weekend. What they can be is committed and driven, motivated. That's the only way I work with players who are that. I'll not accept bad practice. I'll not accept lazy days. The fans need to know that when they've got a team there that represents them well. It's my intention to give them that team.' READ MORE: New contract for Hearts man as he faces a critical season
Scotsman
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Craig Gordon signs new Hearts contract
The Hearts legend's contract had started running down heading into this summer. Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Craig Gordon has signed a new contract at Hearts to take him into the 25/26 campaign. The veteran has penned a 12-month deal after his most recent terms started to tick down heading into the summer. Gordon has been number one for Scotland of late, albeit he is out of June's camp after an injury picked up at the end of the 24/25 Premiership season. He will turn 43 in December and maintained a place as Hearts' main goalkeeper throughout the league and European campaign, with Zander Clark and Ryan Fulton for cover. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It is one of the first announcements made by Hearts after Derek McInnes officially arrived as manager earlier this week. Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis has also signed on the dotted line after time at Slovakian top flight side MFK Zemplin Michalovce. Why Craig Gordon has signed new Hearts contract Gordon started his career at Hearts in the early 2000s and is now in his second spell with the club. He won the Scottish Cup first time around and sealed a move to Sunderland for a fee in the region of £9m, then the British record fee for a goalkeeper. He's helped the club get out the Championship since returning to Hearts and overall has featured 330 times in maroon. The keeper said: 'It's a huge honour to continue playing with this great club. Ever since I walked in the door of the old main stand in 1999 it's all I have wanted to do. I feel fortunate to still have the opportunity to do that for another year. I took my time to come to this decision, I wanted to make sure it was right. I'm looking forward to the new season, determined to make it better than the last. To be part of the new era under Derek McInnes and the new management team, I'm ready to do all I can to help get this team back to where we want to be. Another season, another chance to achieve. I'm looking forward to it.' A club statement said: 'Heart of Midlothian is delighted to confirm that Craig Gordon has signed a contract extension. Craig will continue his association with the club for another year, penning a new deal that will keep him in Gorgie until the summer of 2026. A near ever present this season, the Scotland goalkeeper smashed records all year long. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'He became Hearts' record European appearance holder in September's Europa League qualifier away to FC Viktoria Plzen, and now stands on 30 appearances on the continent. November saw him register his 300th appearance in maroon when he featured against FC Heidenheim in the Conference League league phase. To date, he has pulled on a Hearts jersey 330 times across two spells. Craig clinched his 100th Hearts clean sheet in December's 2-0 win over Dundee and has gone on to record another four shutouts. A legend at Tynecastle Park, Craig will be part of the 2025/26 campaign as the Jambos gear up for the start of a new era under Head Coach Derek McInnes.' Hearts veteran vow Gordon had recently got honest over how the season panned out for Hearts, where the club finished in the bottom six and went through two head coaches in Steven Naismith then Neil Critchley. He said on social media: Another season has been and gone. It fell way short of expectations. There were a few highlights along the way - some great results with Scotland against teams like Croatia, Portugal and Poland, but ultimately not enough to maintain group A status. 'Winning on penalties in Paisley, receiving 50 Scotland caps while playing for Hearts, becoming Hearts' highest appearance holder in European competition, and reaching 300 appearances for the club. Milestones are great, but the success on the pitch was what I wanted more. This season was difficult in so many ways but as a group we weren't good enough to bring the success this club and fan base demands. It's over now and time to let this season go, rebuild and come back stronger. I know this club, and I know that will happen.'
Scotsman
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scottish FA punishment for Hearts midfielder Yan Dhanda after a red card appeal
Tynecastle club argued that their player was wrongly dismissed on the last day of the Premiership Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A Scottish Football Association tribunal have rejected Hearts' appeal against Yan Dhanda's red card at Kilmarnock on Sunday. A fast track hearing took place on Tuesday as the Edinburgh club argued that Dhanda's dismissal was incorrect and should be overturned. However, the original decision was upheld and Dhanda was hit with a two-match ban. Referee Dan McFarlane sent the Englishman off after 38 minutes of the match at Rugby Park after he caught the Kilmarnock defender Stuart Findlay above the ankle with his studs. Dhanda was in possession and advancing towards the opposition penalty area at the time when he was impacted by David Watson's tackle from behind. That nudged him towards Findlay, but the fact he made contact with the centre-back with studs raised amounted to serious foul play. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Referee McFarlane consulted a touchline monitor to review the incident and then issued Dhanda a straight red card. Given Sunday was Hearts' final league match of the season, the midfielder must now serve a two-game suspension in the first two fixtures of the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership campaign. Ten-man Hearts went on to win 1-0 courtesy of Stephen Kingsley's 88th-minute strike. That gave interim head coach Liam Fox a fourth victory from the last four games of the season as he helped ensure the Edinburgh club avoided the Premiership's relegation zone. The following day, Hearts confirmed the appointment of Derek McInnes as their new head coach. McInnes did not attend Rugby Park on Sunday after tensions grew among Kilmarnock fans whilst he waited to take charge at Tynecastle Park. The switch was confirmed as coaches Paul Sheerin and Alan Archibald also moved from Ayrshire to Edinburgh. McInnes outlined how he intends to go about restoring Hearts to a challenging position following this season's seventh-place finish. His main aim is to make Tynecastle more intimidating. 'Sometimes I feel, when teams come here now, it's a bit sanitised,' explained McInnes. 'Once the kick-off goes, teams enjoy it, bed themselves into the game. I'd like it to be the opposite. I'd like players to think that they don't like going to Tynecastle as much as they have previously, and it's such an intimidating place. For that, we need to have our players enjoying the atmosphere and thriving on that as well. You turn up at Tynecastle at 3pm and the fans are here, they've done their bit, so it's up to us to give them a game to enjoy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scottish football style compared to Europe 'The Hearts teams I have played against in the past could hit you with intensity, hit you with aggression and the noise would get louder and louder. That's something we have to tap into because I've come here as an opposition manager looking to quieten the crowd. We have to recognise the responsibility we have to bring the crowd with us in games, bring an energy and mindset to games. 'Being too precise and slow sometimes with the build up gives teams confidence and the chance to take a breath. We want teams to feel they're not okay coming here - that's an easy thing to say but a more difficult thing to work towards. But it's something I feel is important. Hearts teams when I was younger always had a strength about them, not people who would just kick you, but fitness and energy. You had to stand up to that. While you want to be technical and good on the eye with players who can handle the ball, there's also got to be that other dimension. 'Scottish football is the league we're in and I do think we're different to a lot of other leagues. In Scandinavia and the like, it's all very technical, all very coachy and slower-paced. But in our country you have to play with an extra edge, passion and show that extra bit of determination in early parts of games. You have to have that fitness and wherewithal to deal with what's expected of you. 'The truth of the matter is: What's expected of me and my team is to be successful. So I have to build a team that represents me and represents what Hearts should be. That's energetic, fit and also have the confidence and personality to deal with playing here.' READ MORE: More Hearts transfers imminent
The Herald Scotland
19-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Hearts confirm appointment of McInnes as new head coach
Read more: He wasn't in the Rugby Park dugout on Sunday for Hearts' 1-0 win, with the Edinburgh club today announcing his appointment. A statement read: "Heart of Midlothian is delighted to confirm the appointment of Derek McInnes as the club's new Head Coach. "A hugely experienced manager, with a proven track record of competing at the top end of the Scottish Premiership and in Europe, Derek will lead the Jambos into a new era after signing a four-year deal at Tynecastle Park. "Joining Derek in Gorgie will be his first-team coaches Paul Sheerin and Alan Archibald, with the trio making the move from Kilmarnock, subject to Scottish FA approval. "After enjoying a stellar playing career both sides of the border, Derek's managerial career took off in 2007 when he guided St Johnstone to the top flight, and he would go on to manage Bristol City, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. "He transformed the fortunes of Aberdeen during an eight-year spell at Pittodrie. Never finishing outside of the top four in his seven full seasons, he led them to four consecutive second place finishes, reached four cup finals and lifted the Scottish League Cup. "Derek took the Dons into Europe seven years-in-a-row, narrowly missing out on the group stages after being edged out by the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Burnley. "At Kilmarnock, he won promotion back into the Premiership in his first season before steering them to fourth place in 2023/24. A European run followed, and although Killie lost out to Cercle Brugge and FC Copenhagen, they did eliminate Tromso, which was the Rugby Park side's first European two-legged tie victory in 23 years. "A PFA Scotland Manager of the Year winner, and two-time Scottish Football Writers' Association Manager of the Year, Derek, along with Paul and Alan, will take Hearts forward into an exciting new era."
