Close your eyes and hear any of its songs, and Thornhill’s epic sophomore full-length will transport its listener’s imagination to scenes of classic Hollywood.
Riding a creative wave driven by an affection for the glam and charm of this style, Thornhill’s Jacob Charlton (vocals/lyrics) and Ethan McCann (guitar/production) birthed Heroine – a vivid anthology of stories set to a dynamic, cinema-inspired score.
“Arkangel’ was the first song to really get the writing process rolling,” shares Ethan of his mid-lockdown creative drought. “Once I had the intro, first verse and the chorus down I noticed all these parts created a certain mood and set of visuals in my imagination…. it was reminding me of the Buffy intro credits with that super late ’90s, cheesy, glossy film look.
“I ended up laying the demo I had on top of a video of the credits and I found pairing it with those visuals really helped me develop the song because I could treat it almost like writing a film score.”
What began as an experimental way to crack ‘Arkangel’ soon sparked a creative avalanche for Ethan, who – suddenly speaking the same language as the already-cinema obsessed Jacob – began treating every track in a way he’d never considered before: as though he was writing for film. From there, Heroine was born.
Listeners will no doubt hear the moody and anthemic ‘Varsity Hearts’ and picture scenes from She’s All That, and be transported into the world of James Bond amid the spy-like breakdowns of ‘Casanova’. Elsewhere, the album references the sounds and styles of some of Hollywood’s most classic titles like Singing In The Rain, American Beauty and Baz Luhrmann’s epic Romeo & Juliet.
Enamoured with storytelling and screenplay, Jacob honed his love of penning lyrics as if mini movies throughout the writing process. Led by the direction Ethan’s production took his imagination, he crafted Heroine’s lyrics to match the energy of the music.