Bondy's "American Hearts" record is upstate alt-folk at its most wistful and, well, bighearted. Summoning the studio ghosts of the great '60s Dylan and Band sessions cut in those hills, Bondy winds up somewhere between the reedy Neil Young and the scuffed Jeff Tweedy.
Recorded and mixed in a month at The Red Barn in Palenville, NY in January 2007, “American Hearts” is dark and sardonic but it’s not as claustrophobic, tortured nor troubled as you'd expect. The record is actually quite beautifully stark and stripped-down and well played, filled with great melodies and warm production. The songs are wonderfully influenced by an amalgam of folk and blues, filtered through the mind of someone who knows what makes a great rock song breathe.