Jamie & the Guarded Heart's "Halloween" Carries Deeply Poignant Undertones

Jamie and the Guarded Heart, photo by Jackie Pursell

Jamie and the Guarded Heart, a Conshohocken-based rock group, released a seasonal track earlier this week, appropriately titled “Halloween.” The first thing that struck me about this song was that the soundscape, with delicately echoing fingerpicking, deeply personal lyrics, and mournful vocal tones, could fit so snugly onto a Better Oblivion Community Center album or anywhere else within that realm. With a name as on the nose as “Halloween,” this wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The song doesn’t embody the holiday at all, but a feeling, and a person.

Of the track, singer Jamie Salvatore laid down some insight. “My mom was born on Halloween in 1954 and passed away in the summer of 2019. She was full of life and noise and heartbreak, and I miss her in little moments every day. I sat at my dining room table with the lights off on Halloween night last year (the first one without my mom), and I picked up my guitar and this song just came out. It was like she was talking to me, through me. I hope you enjoy it, because when I listen, I hear her, and maybe you can too."

I do. It’s a song that envelopes the feeling of having lost someone. It’s a universally specific thing that we’ve all felt, but with the personal moments behind Salvatore’s lyrics, this song can still listen like it’s just for him, alone. This song feels perfectly seasonal. The first couple seconds feel cool and cozy and fall, and if you needed a song to add to your evening walk playlist, this is it. I don’t know how the band managed to capture such intense, tangible feelings in sound, but they did.

You can watch the animated video for “Halloween” below, and stream the track anywhere you find music.