Naked Hearts

?Our goal is to lose our sense of self and come together to convey a temporary, hopefully beautiful space for people,? evokes Amy Cooper, singer/guitarist for the duo Naked Hearts. With her band mate, singer/drummer Noah Wheeler, the pair shares a home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which allows them to collaborate and put those emotions into music whenever they aspire. ?There was something that was too easy about how quickly we connected through music,? offers Cooper about the their first collaborations, ?And it is an addictive feeling that we both still cherish.?

Wheeler may be a trained jazz bassist, and Cooper a photographer, but it was their similar taste in music, art, and film that created a tangible synergy between the two that electrifies Naked Hearts fuzzy pop. Cooper is originally from California and Wheeler, Missouri, but it was in NYC where their paths first crossed. The two met at an NYC club where they were both playing the same night in different bands. Cooper asked Wheeler to go on tour with her playing drums, and that's when the sparks for Naked Hearts (the name of the first song they wrote together) began in 2007.

Mass Hysteria, Naked Hearts first full-length album, displays present respect to the kinds of music they grew up on. ?We're kids of the ?90s, we are influenced by ?90s bands,? says Cooper. Hinting at a softer Sonic Youth or a tougher Blake Babies, the band's current of boy/girl vocals aims directly for the heart. It turns Naked Hearts' music into an emotional substance worth craving. ?Love, loneliness, the unknown. Moments of joy, moments of realization,? says Cooper, is what fuels their work.

Songwriting duties for the two-piece are equal and the blend of their voices is memorable, leading them to a top-notch feature with full-page picture in Interview Magazine and gigs with The Raveonettes, Evan Dando, and The Black Angels. The recording of Mass Hysteria took place at Vacation Island Recordings in Brooklyn, NY. Owner and engineer Matt Boynton (Gang Gang Dance, Bat For Lashes) came up to the duo immediately after seeing them play and asked if he could record their next album.

While recording the album, the band admits they listened to a lot of Nirvana, and one can hear the hints of grunge in its prettiest sense in a song like ?Grow?. Mass Hysteria holds firm with a Juliana Hatfield-style of feisty energy in the song ?Boyfriend?; a track about having outside crushes while you're in a relationship. Similarly, ?Like I Do? is a song anyone can relate to: the happily blind excitement of a new relationship and where it could go. Mass Hysteria has an authentic disposition to it, confirms Cooper, ?Our themes are about love and the mystery, doubts and vulnerability that come with it.?

The 10 songs that embody Mass Hysteria. may seem to go by quick, but they stay with you long after the record ends. Hysteria is what you make of it.