With his recently released album up above, songwriter Wrabel evolved beyond the personal storytelling of 2023’s Based on a True Story to a broader spectrum of experience, emotion, and sound—a more atmospheric approach to composing that lends a certain weightlessness to these 12 songs. Whereas that prior album felt like a natural response to Wrabel’s writing work for other artists (notably including pop superstars such as Kesha and Teddy Swims), the songs on up above are more an exploration of relatable human feelings than of the artist’s individual experiences with it.
For his recently filmed “Neighborhoods” session, Wrabel and guitarist Rod Castro set up in Los Angeles on a sunny day to perform the album track “shape of my heart,” one of the songs on the record that came most naturally to the writer. “The inspiration for [the song] came from almost a resentment that I feel sometimes that the most beautiful songs are overlooked as ‘the ballad,’ etc.,” he shares. “I wanted to express that in an interesting way and thought to distort my voice as if to say, ‘listen closely.’ It also mirrors the sentiment of the song, about how love changes you down to the very core of who you are. It’s a beautiful and strange thing to realize—how you can change and adapt and grow and shape-shift out of love for another."
Hear a stripped-down acoustic version of the track—featuring Wrabel’s undistorted voice—below.
