We’re nothing but the sum of our influences – made up of many different parts, from many different places and people. So too are Sydney band Heart Armour, each of their three members pouring a part of themselves into the group, and into each other.
Heart Armour are Jenny Trinh, Kashif Sheihk and Zac Edwards. As Wytchings, and as member of group Worlds Only, Jenny makes vocal-focused ambient music that evokes dream pop that's been stripped of its rock conventions, a sublimation of total ethereal submission. Jenny is Heart Armour’s main vocalist, supplemented by Kashif’s brooding, R&B honeyed vocals and ruminative guitar melodies. Through sample manipulation and synths, Zac covers drum programming – providing the loop that created their debut track, ‘White Flag.’
First formed from a friendship, Heart Armour have been moulded from intimate collaboration; a string of live performances starting at Parramatta Lanes in 2023, and similarly improvisational practise and recording sessions, sometimes jamming with a loop on repeat to see what ideas emerge. For Kashif, making music together is similar to ‘talking to each other,’ seeing the similarities and differences that emerge.
“It was really interesting hearing Zac say that the track (‘White Flag’) was initially very, cold and minimal, but Jenny and I kind of felt this real, like, intense, summer melancholy that was attached to it.’
This fascinating contrast of simultaneously icy but summery humidity is evoked by ‘White Flag’s drum pattern: a stumbling dancehall-esque beat that oscillates frequently between submerged sub-bass and stalactite-like upper registers. It’s the secret ingredient to ‘White Flag,’ an unlikely pairing to its otherwise hazy soundscapes, but honest to the bands genuine collaboration, something that Jenny credits to being ‘really good friends.’
‘I guess it’s rooted in just spending a lot of time with each other…So I think it's really just honouring the friendship between all of us.”
Words by Lindsay Riley