Americana heartland-rocker John Calvin’s single “I Can Make Your Heart Mine” is out June 27th. It’s Tom Petty meets Wilco. Sincerity emphasizes being the best parent you can possibly be while attempting to minimize inherited trauma. “What I can’t leave behind / I’ll have to carry on / But I can make your heart mine / I can hold you close and let you go,” Calvin sings as his honest vocals trade off with bass, drums, and Rhodes organ in this stripped-bare song of empathy. A phantom guitar is implied through its beautiful, Chick Corea-esque melancholic vibe that crescendos with cinematic strings.
Calvin’s latest single blends jazzy drums with folk storytelling for a captivating fusion track. “I Can Make Your Heart Mine” is a whirlwind of a listen. The unpredictable crashing of the drums slides into droning keys with a twangy twist, creating a collage-style arrangement and a beautiful canvas for Calvin’s introspective songwriting. On a bed of relaxed melodies, the singer/songwriter digs into a vulnerable place and emerges with a palpable longing. Calvin explores the tumultuous relationship one can have with one’s past and fights for a moment of clarity where the present becomes your only worry. Calvin delivers these sentiments via swaying melodies that grab your attention as quickly as the bluesy arrangement can. “I Can Make Your Heart Mine” is a pure country ballad that challenges the genre’s tropes to land on a colorful middle ground between blues, jazz, and indie rock.
“Many of us were raised in a world without the means to address our past, our family history, and the tangible impact these ghosts can have on us. At some point, if you’re lucky, you love someone enough to try to make peace with that past, all of it, and turn your attention to the moment,” explains Calvin. “Turning your attention fully to a person you love is a way to let the past go in peace. Love always feels tenuous, even when it looks concrete from the outside. To wish for something better almost feels like an invocation, to work to make a dream real. That wish is behind these lyrics: ‘I can take these thoughts/ Wrap ‘em in hope/ And turn ‘em into Real life.’ To bring together intention and optimism felt counter to who I had been, but loving unconditionally still seems to require it.”
