US / THEM: THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION to reissue 1998 debut '1' on Solid Brass Records, share first single "Release My Heart"

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION to reissue 1998 debut '1' on Solid Brass Records, share first single "Release My Heart"

Photo by Melissa X DeAun (@melissadeaunphoto)

San Diego based late-90s/00s band The Black Heart Procession announce the remastered reissue of their 1998 debut album 1 via Solid Brass Records. Hear and share the lead single "Release My Heart" on all DSPs HERE.

Emerging from San Diego’s shadowed coastline in 1997, The Black Heart Procession began as the dark-hearted alter-ego of Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel, formerly of Three Mile Pilot. Their debut album 1, released in 1998, introduced a sound that felt both ancient and cinematic — pianos creaking like ship timbers, guitars bleeding reverb, and Jenkins’ voice cutting through the gloom like a late-night confession.

The duo has been joined over the years by a revolving cast of musicians including drummers Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse, Cold War Kids), Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Clikatat Ikatowi), and Zeke Howard (Love As Laughter) as well as bassist Jimmy LaValle and violinist Matt Resovich from The Album Leaf. The band's line-up has expanded and contracted, but at its heart and soul remains Jenkins and Nathaniel, creating timeless, heart-wrenching classics that are adventurous, eclectic, and consistently brilliant.

Across eight studio albums for labels such as Headhunter, Touch and Go, Konkurrent, and Temporary Residence, the band has remained a rare constant in the landscape of slowcore, gothic Americana, and experimental rock. Their music blurs the boundaries between song and séance — haunted, romantic, and impossibly human.

Now, Solid Brass Records proudly reissues 1, with updated artwork, giving new listeners and longtime devotees a chance to experience the record that set the foundation for a catalog of modern melancholia.

The band’s story continues: following a 2024 European tour (Italy, Greece) and a US run with Modest Mouse, The Black Heart Procession will join the 2026 Ice Cream Floats Cruise alongside Kurt Vile, Portugal. The Man, Ugly Casanova, and more. With Solid Brass, the band also prepares additional archival projects — beginning with the Hearts and Tanks EP, arriving on streaming for the first time in September 2025.

1 remains a record that sounds less like a debut and more like a séance — proof that heartbreak can echo beautifully for decades.

1 will be available on remastered vinyl LP and streaming/download on February 13th, 2026 via Solid Brass Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.

THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION - LIVE 2026:

02/05-09/2026 Modest Mouse Dominican Republic cruise