This time the accolades for the local pop troupe come from Entertainment Weekly, who yesterday named them one of the ten best new bands at South By Southwest this year. Says Leah Greenblatt:

The Head and the Heart
Again, not breaking the barriers of new sound, but after days of overly-hyped letdowns (Yuck’s Dino Jr. fuzz never gelled for me live; Twin Shadow similarly proved that alt-’80s imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, not mastery), these new Sub Pop signees felt like laying back in a patch of soft green grass (not beer-vomit-soaked dirt). The easy-like-Sunday-morning side of me that very much enjoys a straightforward, expertly-crafted folk-rock hook got what she wanted with TH&TH; of almost every new band I saw at the festival, these guys seemed the most ready for their “Tonight’s Saturday Night Live musical guest is…” closeup. Commercial? Absolutely; they’ve undoubtedly studied at the feet of current/former labelmates the Shins, Fleet Foxes, and Band of Horses. And clearly learned a lot.

The Head and the Heart is in good company, considering that the other bands on the list include notorious rabble-rousers Odd Future (a.k.a. Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), the imminently buzzable tUnE-yArDs, Kurt Vile (who is not a new band at all), and Foster the People, who have an already sold-out show at the High Dive this Saturday. The Head and the Heart have two upcoming shows in town: an all-ages Showbox date on April 29th and another one the night after that at the Moore (both look to be sold out).

Added bonus: The Head and the Heart’s self-titled debut will be released on April 16th as part of Record Store Day, when they’ll also have live in-store performances at Sonic Boom Ballard (3 p.m., acoustic) and Easy Street Queen Anne (7 p.m., full band). You can hear The Head and the Heart’s full SXSW KEXP set here.