West coast Americana at its finest, The Head & The Heart finally made their return to Berkeley on Saturday, a whirlwind of infectious energy and familial love. Debuting their 2016 album Signs of Light to a crowd already in love with it, the band stomped around a stage decorated vaguely like an Urban Outfitters with the kind of smiles that only come with the feeling of doing what you love most in the only place you want to be. Charity Rose, in a cape, danced over to drummer Tyler Williams mid-song to jubilantly shake a maraca, as Kenny Hensley plunked emphatically at his keyboard octaves.

Of the dozens of bands I’ve now seen live, I can’t say I’ve seen another with as much harmony and compatibility among its members as The Head & The Heart. From a ragtag beginning in Seattle in 2009 to the worldwide success of The Head & The Heart (2011) and Let’s Be Still (2013), the band (a slightly different lineup now from its beginning) vibes so well together, they seem like fused pieces of a whole rather than individuals performing together.

Article and photos by Kavitha George.

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