Heart Shaped - ‘Second Hand’
Heart Shaped releases a charming punk E.P. this Friday named ‘Second Hand’.
The alias of Belfast based, Houston native Kendall Bousqeut, provides the perfect soundtrack to an American high school drama, in the best way possible. Combining a punk ethos with power-pop lyrics and melodies, she explores the fear of the unknown that spawned from her young relationship with guitar.
“I was thinking about why it took me so long to play guitar, not because I wasn’t interested in it, it was always something I wanted to do but it was something I wanted to do so badly it was almost embarrassing? I think sometimes when you want something so badly it can feel a bit shameful or vulnerable? That’s what a lot of the song writing on Second Hand is exploring, this premise of things going well can almost be scarier than if you tell yourself you’re going to fail. Whether it’s learning a new skill or being vulnerable in a relationship or whatever, it just felt like a theme throughout the project.”
The process of the E.P. has journeyed across the Atlantic, “The title track ‘Second Hand’, I wrote just before going home to Houston for Christmas last year and was jamming with my friend Alex, and he kind of came up the bassline for the verse” and while finding the isolation of lockdown a change of pace from her previous musical endeavours, Kendall still cherished working with other people in spite of being relatively new to the city.
“I totally welcome the collaborative and DIY effort I made with friends. I had always played in bands, I love the collaborative aspect of bands and the comradery, I just feel like I’m someone who always wants to be in a band and when I moved over and had just started to get my footing in Belfast but I kind of didn’t really know enough people to start a band? So I just decided to do a bit more of a personal project because I want to put something out there and waiting around for the band of my dreams it’s definitely not going to happen! I feel I went backwards a little bit but hopefully one day there will be a full Heart Shaped band!”
The E.P. is being released on Poison Moon Records, a Houston based label of which she says; “On the one hand I think that everything they put out is so good and I listen it all the time but they’re also really close friends of mine, s it’s kind of a win-win because I love being able to have friends involved. They’re so supportive and invested in wanting the project to be reflective of my intentions!”
‘Second Hand’ is a perfectly timed E.P. and captures a real sense of urgency from inertia.With the lack of live shows to promote the project, Kendall is smartly using her eclectic radio show on The 343 Radio to host a listening party where she’ll be playing some of her influences along with the tape.
Make sure you buy a copy of ‘Second Hand’ on Bandcamp which will also be available on casette!
︎Listen to single ‘Sometimes’ here