Then the guitars arrive from the wings, acoustic and electric nestled together with a quiet, easy confidence, the electric soaring over the top like an eagle above open plains.

What makes this track even more remarkable is the story behind it. ‘Her Song’ was recorded entirely remotely. Michael Wheats on vocals and guitar from Asheville, Rip Kurtain on bass from New Orleans, Sergio de Silva on drums from Portugal, Ally Rozario on backing vocals from Malaysia, and Sam Choate on guitar from Texas. Five musicians, five countries, one studio’s worth of warmth and chemistry. The fact that you would never know, the fact that it sounds like five people breathing the same air in the same room, is a testament both to the incredible artists and the technology involved, and I suspect some geographical alchemy of some sort.

The reunion of lifelong friends and bandmates Michael and Rip is the heartbeat of this project, and you can feel it. There is a lived-in ease to ‘Her Song’ that you simply cannot manufacture, the kind of comfort that comes from two people who have been making music together long enough to know exactly when to push and when to pull.

Indie folk with a soupçon of rock thrown in, sitting in the folk-country seat but edging deliberately toward something grittier, the influences here are rich and clearly worn with pride. Steely Dan in the bones, a touch of Springsteen in the raw grit of Michael’s vocals, and The Eagles in a chorus melody so immediately ear-worming that the ‘doo-doo-doos’ will follow you down the street for days. Ally Rozario’s backing vocals are perfectly sweet against that rawness, light where Michael is weathered, tender where he is urgent, the two voices finding each other with the same instinctive ease as the guitars.

The mid-section drums carry something unexpected and quietly brilliant, a softness that leans toward an Argentinian tango rhythm, with what feels like a bamboo or adufe drum keeping the whole thing grounded and gentle. Not surprising, perhaps, given Sergio is based in Portugal, where that pulse is in the soil. In another world, with those vocals and that guitar tone, this track could have gone full rock, heavy, distorted, leaning into its grit. Instead, it stays light, layered, and is all the more powerful for it.

Lyrically, ‘Her Song’ resists easy pinning down in its message. “Hold you close,” “lost in the drive,” “running from ghosts and chains”, are those the ghosts and chains of life, or of love? Of the past, or the present? It conjures something like being lost in the wilderness, a magnetic pull toward another person, the need to close whatever distance exists between two hearts. Perhaps she is the saviour. Perhaps she is simply the one thing that makes everything else bearable. Either way, the surrender in this song is full, and it is beautiful.

It feels like a slow dance, ultimately. And what a slow dance holds when two hearts are truly at one; time slows, everything else falls away, and the world outside simply stops mattering. And that seems to be the thesis for ‘Love Section’, as a full body of work. Love, music, and dance can heal what is broken, and holding on to the best thing is always worth the cost of everything else.

This isn’t a track for one single play. Each time you listen, another layer is quietly revealed, bringing with it depth, mood, and soul.

‘Her Song’ is due for release on the 2nd July 2026.

1st July 2026