Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary)

## Chronology

*Boreas*

*Zephyrus*

***Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary)***

**Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary)** is the re-recorded version of the single "Hello My Old Heart" by indie folk rock band The Oh Hellos. Featuring a new arrangement and more sparse acoustic instrumentation, it was recorded in honor of the ten year anniversary of their debut self-titled EP and subsequently the band itself. The single was released on Wednesday, December 1 both to stream on Spotify and for digital download on Bandcamp. It will be released on physical media as a bonus track as part of the reissue of their self-titled EP on a one-sided 12" vinyl.

## Background

See also: The Oh Hellos' EP

Living in their bedrooms between college semesters, Tyler and Maggie Heath recorded their debut self-titled EP over the course of 2011. Before its release, they posted their single from said project "Hello My Old Heart" to the forum r/ListenToThis.After garnering 36 upvotes and encouraging comments from the Reddit forum, they decided to pursue finishing the EP and subsequently released it on December 1, 2011. Taking inspiration from indie folk and country acts at the time, they envisioned both the single and the EP itself to "begin by confronting the difficulties of love and freedom and end by embracing them." While not being prominent at the time of release, "Hello My Old Heart" was picked up by radio stations in the Denver, CO area and quickly gained traction in 2013 while the band was touring for their first full-length album, Through the Deep Dark Valley. This notoriety helped give them traction and cemented their carrer as indie folk rock musicians with a dedicated fanbase for the next decade.

On November 24, 2021, the Twitter account for the band released a short video entitled "H LL". The video shows the exterior of a house, the top bedroom with its light on and the sun setting in the background as the camera pans out. This video was accompanied by the release date "12.1.21", with many fans believing it to be the release of a new project or even a Christmas album given the time of year. However, just two days later, a second video titled "M LD" featured the same date with not only a new shot of the interior of a cabin with scattered light streatming through, but audio of Tyler humming and strumming a melody reminsicent of Hello My Old Heart. This made many connect the date of the tenth anniversary and give the sense that potentially a new version of either Hello My Old Heart or the entire EP could be released. On November 29, another video was released called "H RT" that shows more interiors of the cabin with wind and light pushing through the shades of the window. In the audio of this video, Maggie is heard singing, but it is unclear at first the words or melody she is singing due to how distant and quiet her vocals are in the mix as well as the effects that make her voice sound like a radio dial warping her voice as the signal is switching between channels. On closer inspection, she is singing the lyrics from the last stanza of "Hello My Old Heart", and this cemented for fans that a new version of this song would be released in some way - especially given the titles of the videos now put together. Lastly, on November 30, a video was released entitled "T N Y R", showing a campfire burning in the distance on a dark night as people gather around it. As music plays, the video officially announces the 10th anniversary edition of Hello My Old Heart set to release ten years after the release of their debut EP.

## Production and Release

At midnight on December 1, 2021, "Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary)" was released on their Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube accounts. In a statement listed on their website, the duo stated that they wanted to tribute and honor the song that jumpstarted their careers but felt that "we couldn’t just sing it the same way ten years later and still feel honest. Therefore, they decided to record a different arrangement not only with new chords, but with a sparse production and larger empahsis on the acoustic nature of the instrumentation rather than the dynamic build of the original. In fact, early on in the process of making the new version, Tyler and Maggie discussed the having the recording give the atmosphere of being alone late at night in their aunt's house with "a crackling fireplace, wind through pines outside...but if the house was in the mountains instead of the suburbs (and was also lightly but benevolently haunted)." The band stated that the "fond recollections of all the times you sang along with us on the road have made Hello My Old Heart feel new to us for the first time in a decade" and in their statement, they hoped that "it brings back some good memories for you, the way it has for us."

After its release on streaming, the band announced that the song would be featured as a bonus track on the tenth anniversary reissue of their self-titled EP pressed onto vinyl. Unlike the original 7-inch record, this version was a full 12-inch 180-gram record with the music etched to only one side while the other features a flowery decorative design reminiscent of the new artwork. This pressing is also set to come with the new album artwork for the 10th anniversary as an embossed cover, a hand-written lyric sheet, an artwork insert, and individual foil numbering to denote the pressing number. Limited to only 2,000 copies, this reissue officially released in July 2022. As of December 2022, *Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary)* currently holds over 1 million streams on Spotify.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 [travelinghaberdasher] (2011, August 13). The Oh Hello's - Hello My Old Heart [eclectic folk rock, 2011]. https://www.reddit.com/r/listentothis/comments/ji3b1/the\_oh\_hellos\_hello\_my\_old\_heart\_eclectic\_folk/
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “Maggie and Tyler Heath: The Oh Hellos”. The BlackSheep Podcast: Presented by HM Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Oh Hellos EP. (2011, December 1). The Oh Hellos. https://music.theohhellos.com/album/the-oh-hellos
4. ↑ The Oh Hellos. (2021, November 24) “H LL” Twitter. https://twitter.com/theohhellos/status/1463558335492333571
5. ↑ The Oh Hellos. (2021, November 26) “M LD” Twitter. https://twitter.com/theohhellos/status/1464278638396805123
6. ↑ The Oh Hellos. (2021, November 29) “H RT” Twitter. https://twitter.com/theohhellos/status/1465365067705192449
7. ↑ The Oh Hellos. (2021, November 30) “T N Y R” Twitter. https://twitter.com/theohhellos/status/1465727406782648321
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary). (2021, December 1). The Oh Hellos. https://music.theohhellos.com/track/hello-my-old-heart-ten-year-anniversary
9. ↑ Tyler Heath. (2021, December 1) “One of my favorite bits of this new recording of HMOH is the atmospheric noise…” Twitter. https://twitter.com/tylerheath/status/1466110245659418634
10. ↑ Tyler Heath. (2021, December 1) “I remember taking with @maggieheath early on in the process…” Twitter. https://twitter.com/tylerheath/status/1466112139400298500
11. ↑ The Oh Hellos. (2021, December 4) “10th Anniversary Limited edition Vinyl and Merch Bundles available now! http://theohhellos.themerchcollective.com” Twitter. https://twitter.com/theohhellos/status/1467195901441544195
12. ↑ Hello My Old Heart (Ten Year Anniversary). The Oh Hellos. https://open.spotify.com/album/1jLY4iZqTPLOBOonZiCotC?si=NLQHGhn2S8myDdNbQIz17A