Local singer/songwriter Justin Hertz released his first full-length album, Someday You’ll Feel the Same, in October. At first listen, if you’re not paying close attention, the album might sound like a poppy mix of acoustic happy pills. However, if you take a moment to really listen, the eight songs there are jam-packed full of emotion and depth.

In Someday You’ll Feel the Same, Hertz presents a gamut of emotions, and they are not hard to discern. He very much seems to wear his heart on his sleeve, singing about heartache, longing, joy, love, and deep emotional pain. Again, that’s a lot of emotion to pack into one album, but it’s all there. The emotive lyrics are matched well with his melodies and instrumentation. The music and lyrics work together to paint a picture of someone who is emotionally live and has a wide spectrum of relational joys and woes. You can feel the pain in “Heaven Waits,” the opening track:

Tore me up and it
Knocked me down right to my knees
Cut me open and
Somehow stole my everything  

And in “Only a Fool”:
I don’t mean much to love anymore
And she don’t mean much to me

But there is love and intimacy, like in “Darling”:
That’s alright if you take the lead
All that matters is it’s you and me

The engaged listener can hear the emotion in these songs. You can sense a back-story that is not only forming the art, but is also forming the artist. Many of the emotional themes in Someday You’ll Feel the Same come together in the title track. It is like the musical and lyrical standard-bearer for the album, describing longing, love, and the hope for the day when that longing will result in that love.

If you enjoy Sondre Lerche, fun instrumentation (including banjos, organs, and accordions), and straightforward emotive lyrics, take a few minutes and listen to Someday You’ll Feel the Same.

You can stream it for free at Hertz’s Bandcamp page: justinhertz.bandcamp.com