Photo by Lezli + Rose

London indie-pop trio Autoheart return with their most infectious and defiant album to date, Heartlands, via their own O/R Records. With it they shared a video for the record's latest single "Denial." The album is a journey into the world Autoheart has quietly built with their listeners – a sprawling, defiant, often dreamlike place imagined not just by the band, but by the community that grew around them.

It wasn’t meant to be a comeback album – but it does feel like a homecoming. A return to the band’s roots in live instrumentation: pianos, guitars, drums, and layered, choral vocals. A record you can play loud and take straight to the stage. Written partly on the road during their 2024 Love Me Love Me Love Me tour – their first live shows in over a decade – Heartlands was shaped by the energy of those nights and the rediscovery of what Autoheart had perhaps forgotten: this is what they were meant to do.

The band began writing the record in transit – hotel rooms, soundchecks, long drives across unfamiliar landscapes. Then, almost as soon as the tour ended, they stepped into The Pool in south London – a cavernous, character-rich studio where artists like Florence + the Machine, Depeche Mode and LCD Soundsystem have previously recorded. The rest was completed at Urchin Studios, where they made much of 2021’s Hellbent. Self-produced and mixed by longtime collaborator Danton Supple (X&Y, Punch), the album feels both urgent and expansive – a full-band sound soaked in atmosphere, with a clarity that lets every vocal crack, piano chord and guitar hum breathe.

It’s also, notably, their most collaborative work to date. With the exception of “Lost” – a deeply personal track penned by Gadsden – nearly every song on Heartlands was co-written and shaped by the trio as a unit. The difference is audible. These are songs built to be played live. Songs that stretch and unfold. Songs that know they’re being heard.

Lyrically, the album is a kind of reckoning – a series of letters to younger selves, reflections on the invisible weight of growing up queer, and messages of solidarity for anyone still carrying that weight. Autoheart never fit easily into a scene. Too pop for indie, too indie for pop. Too gay when it wasn’t cool to be, and not quite gay enough – or the right kind of gay – to be embraced by the queer music world when it finally arrived.

Their first manager told them to hide their sexuality. They didn’t. Their second manager never showed them their streaming stats – and for years they assumed no one was really listening.

But someone was. And slowly, those voices made themselves heard. Emails and DMs turned into fan art, tattoos, cosplay, a Discord server – a quiet chorus growing louder, one message at a time. A fandom began to form – self-named the Heartheads – and in them, Autoheart saw something familiar: outsiders, weirdos, romantics, people who didn’t fit the mould. Some of the band’s songs – especially “Stalker’s Tango” – began to quietly explode, finding new life across anime edits, queer fan pages, and video platforms they hadn’t even posted to themselves. Suddenly, the band realised: people weren’t just listening. They were listening hard.

And so, in return, Heartlands became a kind of offering. A thank you. A creative exchange between band and fanbase.

Autoheart - Jody Gadsden (vocals), Barney JC (guitars/bass) and Simon Neilson (piano/keys) will head out on a massive 36-date North American tour in two legs, the first kicking off September 5 in Tampa. 

Tour Dates [purchase tickets here]:

09/05 – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum

09/06 – Orlando, FL @ The Abbey

09/08 – Atlanta, GA @ The Loft at Center Stage

09/09 – Richmond, VA @ Canal Club

09/11 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage

09/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live

09/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl

09/14 – Boston, MA @ The Royale

09/16 – Montreal, PQ @ Theatre Fairmount

09/17 – Toronto, ON @ Annabel’s Music Hall

09/19 – Lansing, MI @ Grewal Hall

09/20 – Cleveland, OH @ The Roxy

09/21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre

09/24 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In

09/25 – St. Lous, MO @ Old Rock House

09/26 – Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall

09/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café

10/10 – Manchester, UK @ Rebellion [sold out]

10/11 – London, UK @ Oslo Hackney [sold out]

10/12 – London, UK @ Dingwalls

10/30 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall

10/31 – Austin, TX @ Antone’s

11/01 – Houston, TX @ Bad Astronaut

11/02 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall

11/04 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar

11/05 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown

11/06 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall

11/07 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell

11/08 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Ballroom

11/10 – Calgary, AB @ Dickens

11/11 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Ballroom

11/13 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl

11/14 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theater

11/15 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

11/17 – Oakland, CA @ Ceremony

11/19 – Ventura, CA @ Ventura Music Hall

11/20 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues

11/21 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory

11/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Nile Theater