Quick Take
Following up a viral TikTok hit with upcoming album "The Tower," out Aug. 16, Urban Heat hit Moe's Alley on Wednesday. “There are people who need a song," says frontman Jonathan Horstmann, "and it’s my job to get it to them.”
“This is going to sound esoteric, but I think our jobs as artists is to be a conduit for the universe to give messages to people that they need to receive.”
Coming from almost anyone else that might sound like fake hippie b.s. Yet when it’s Jonathan Horstmann, lead singer for the Austin-based dark synthwave trio, Urban Heat – who return to Moe’s Alley on Wednesday – it sounds the exact opposite. In fact, it sounds almost humble as he says it wearing a T-shirt with “People Over Profit” printed on the front.
“And it’s not my job to interpret the message or put my own spin on it,” he continues. “There are people who need a song and it’s my job to get it to them.”
Maybe it’s the fact that when he’s on stage, Horstmann transforms from a regular person into something otherworldly. Channeling forgotten gods and demons to create an enthralling presence while bandmates Pax Foley and Kevin Naquin coolly play on either side of the stage.
Or maybe it’s the fact that in a sea of marketing, corporate ownership and fake personalities, Urban Heat is an island of authenticity. Their songs are vulnerable, raw and introspective. At shows, Horstmann will often open up about his recovery from substance abuse or talk about why mental health is so important. The band transfers that same openness to their audience through social media with authentic posts about what they’re doing and how they’re feeling that day, good or bad.
“I realized how much unhealed trauma I had after writing the [new] record,” says Horstmann. “There were sacrifices that had to come through touring, finding my blind spots and my growth areas. Recognizing the way I was raised has an incredible amount to do with the way I interact with the world.”
The record in question is the band’s debut full-length, “The Tower,” which comes out on CD, vinyl and streaming services on Aug.16. It’s the darker follow-up to their 2022 debut EP, “Wellness,” which put the band on the musical map. Through their infectious music, constant touring and their willingness to peel back the mask and show their audience their true selves, Urban Heat has skyrocketed in the underground music scene.
After their performance at last year’s South By Southwest festival, the Austin Chronicle named them “One of Eight Austin Acts Poised to Break Out.” Their music and live performance earned them spots on two of the largest ‘80’s music and synthwave festivals in the country – Cruel World and Darker Waves – playing alongside acts like Siouxsie Sioux, Iggy Pop, New Order, Devo and more.
Their single “Have You Ever” went viral on TikTok, blowing up Urban Heat’s 75-person following on the social media platform to over 30,000 in just one month.
“TikTok is good for attention, but not for building relationships,” admits Horstmann. “Which is what I try to do with our fan base: build relationships.”
Urban Heat was formed in 2019 when Horstmann grew somewhat disillusioned screaming for his political hardcore electro-punk band, BLXPLTN (pronounced “Blacksploitation”). He needed a way to redefine his voice and began playing around with analog synthesizers as a form of meditation while in recovery for alcohol and drug use. In those early days he would borrow, rent and sometimes buy then return different synths in order to get the sounds he desired.
Yet the band would fully come together when he met electronic-manipulator Naquin on the set of a music video for avant-garde artist SORNE, whom Naquin performed with. They quickly recruited Foley, a friend from around the music scene, and the three set off to write most of “Wellness” during the lockdowns of 2020.
While their EP was focused on making people feel good during a bad time, “The Tower” is darker, heavier and more personal despite having just as infectious beats and melodies. Also in a deviation from the EP, “The Tower” is Urban Heat’s first album written as a complete package, instead of as a string of singles. Horstmann says the name came from a string of synchronous moments starting with a concert on New Year’s Eve 2023.
“I did this spur-of-the-moment thing where I asked if anyone had a New Year’s resolution they wanted to share,” he remembers. “I would pick someone from the crowd and then I’d have them turn around and raise their arms up while everybody shouted ‘You got this!’”
One of the fans chosen wanted to open a tarot card reading business, which they did not too long after the show. Several months later, she contacted Urban Heat and said she wanted to do a free reading as a thank-you.
“So we meet at this coffee shop and I have my reading,” he continues.
“It was all the standard kind of stuff that I get except as I’m leaving she says, ‘I want to pull one more card for you,’ and it was The Tower.”
For those not familiar with the witchy ways, The Tower is the 16th major arcana card (hence why Urban Heat chose to release the album on Aug. 16) and one of violent force and change. It represents destruction, but there’s also a glimmer of liberation beyond that destruction.
“But, the way I interpret it: On the surface it’s a disruptive thing, but the beauty about that is that it’s a death to the things that aren’t serving you. So you can be the person you’re supposed to be,” Horstmann says.
While in the studio with the new tracks, producer Benjamin Greenspan casually commented that The Tower kept coming up in his tarot readings at the time as well.
“And I was like, ‘You know what? I think this record is The Tower.’” says Horstmann. “This struggle to make it happen – the struggle to do this creative thing as a living and the sacrifices we make – that’s The Tower. However, on the cover, we have The Tower, but I wanted to represent that it was behind us. So the art is a rearview mirror of a car with The Tower in it.”
With Urban Heat poised to break into the music mainstream, “The Tower” might just well be what collapses the barrier. Fans have already heard half of the album – five of the 10 tracks – throughout 2024 as the band has released one roughly every six weeks since the first, “Sanitizer,” dropped Jan. 17.
Ironically, the final single they released before the album-release date, “You’ve Got That Edge,” was actually the first song Horstmann wrote for “The Tower.”
“[Originally] I was going for a synthpop feel like ‘Bright Lights’ by The Weeknd,” he says. “So I presented three songs to my wife, but she said they were all kind of the same. For me, that lit a fire, so I wrote ‘You’ve Got That Edge,’ which gave me the permission to go everywhere I did sonically with the record. I wrote it and went, ‘This. This is it. This is the record.’”
The track in question is a 3½-minute love letter about overcoming obstacles, belonging and – as the title suggests – doing it all while not losing one’s edge. It’s one of the lighter songs on the album and has Depeche Mode-meets-Duran Duran vibes.
Then there’s “Savor Not The Thrill,” a (as of this publishing) currently unreleased track which is the heaviest song Urban Heat has written to date. A droning beat pulsates, inspired by the late 1970s New York proto-industrial punk duo Suicide. On top of the electronic sounds, a monotone Horstmann says, “Sacrifice your masters/but savor not the thrill/transformed to an idea/an idea you cannot kill.” The last line is repeated until he’s screaming as a heavy goth industrial melody explodes.
After taking the listener through a journey of empowerment, doubt and sacrifice, “The Tower” ends on a declaration of acceptance with “Addicted To The Sounds.” The Nine Inch Nails/Gary Numan-esque track enters like a riot but ends on moments of tenderness. The band – and the audience – have survived “The Tower,” ready to put it behind them for whatever may come next.
It’s a final message from the universe that’s not only for the listener, but the band as well.
“When it’s all over, this could be the biggest we ever get,” Horstmann says. “This could be the highlight of my life! And when I look back do I really want the highlight to be remembered as the most stressful time of life? I used to make the analogy that it’s like a rocketship and we’re just trying to hold on for dear life. Well, the ship landed and we patched everything up. We made sure all the bolts are tightened, the suits don’t have any holes, the rations are packed and now we’re just waiting for the countdown.”
Urban Heat plays Moe’s Alley in a 21-and-up show on Wednesday, July 31, at 8 p.m.; tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
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