D.I.Y.: Local artists taking charge and releasing albums on their own — by Tizzy Asher

Here’s who you like to listen to — MSNBC

NotLame.com
In the vein of Sleeper, The Pixies and Elastica, The Conversation Heart merge snappy, sharp, angular but very, very sweet guitar lines with clear pop hooks. Think Damone, Veruca Salt and Superdrag, too. The Conversation Heart take Panzer-tank drive and deeply absorbed desires to roll up memorable songs and create a emotive reflection on full tilt riposte to anyone posing as a hard pop band and throw them down on the floor. There are broad brush strokes of punctuated guitar and nice, tasteful splashes of indie rock harmonies, but it sure has a strong pop center...Very Highly Recommended!

“Ohmigod, the New Conversation Heart Record Is So Good It Makes me Giggle like a Giddy Rich Child.” Something like that, Libra. Full of pop hooks and sassmouthed lyrics, Grenadine is both an indie pop lady killer and man-eater, and the standout single “Candy Bitches” is so infectious it burns — in all the best ways and places. A must-have for the car CD player this summer.

Dan Halligan
The sugary vocals almost give me a sweet pop overload, but I find myself coming back to the candy to lick some more.

Dana Bos
The Conversation Heart's "Candy Bitches" offers sugar hooks and singsong vocals during the most infectious chorus I've heard

They are a fitting addition to the current music industry, edgy enough to be considered alternative, but pleasant enough to be played on mainstream radio.

Conversation Heart mixes pop, rock, bruises — by Monique Letourneau

“Those with a soft spot for tender, awkward pop will fall for the Conversation Heart, Seattle singer-songwriter Ian Corbin’s home recording project. This is the stuff of junior high crushes, shy bedroom rockers, and Beat Happening.”

Interview — by Elizabeth Benavidez

Shorline Community College
If the Conversation Heart's music had a taste it would be sugary sweet. With just one listen to the Seattle band’s debut album, Grenadine, your taste buds will begin to tingle and, if you listen close enough, goosebumps might form.

While the world of song writing has been taken over by bitterness and depression it is refreshing to find a band that has rejected that trend. The Conversation Heart's enchanting music takes a brave step ahead of their whiny, angst-filled peers. The band truly lives up to its name. Songwriter Ian Corbin’s lyrics are much like the phrases that one would find on pieces of the candy that the band named itself after.

The upbeat bass lines and creatively danceable guitar riffs make the music light and airy. The adorable lyrics flow right along with the ‘sweet as candy’ theme the band has created. Corbin's high vocals are as uplifting as the lightly hopeful lyrics themselves and guitarist Irene Barber’s beautiful back up vocals are a perfect compliment.

The songs on Grenadine are all the things that a high school romance is made of. Complete with the feelings of self-doubt that come along with it – demonstrated by lines like, “insults are flattering/and you're killing me/in my dreams I hear you laughing,” in “Misery is Flattery.”

Among the album’s strongest tracks are “Candy Bitches” and “Mega Destroyer.” A favorite for me is “Misery is Flattery,” if only because it is the only track that features a few lines of Barber singing solo. And, as previously mentioned, Barber’s vocals are amazing.

Grenadine is slated to be released on April 15th and should be available in local record stores such as Sonic Boom and Easy Street Records.