Heartshaped explores ideas of connection, impermanence, and attentiveness — to oneself, to others, and to the natural world. The album’s title itself reflects Hertzman’s guiding concept: living with an awareness rooted in empathy and listening, where inner intuition and shared experience intersect. 

While grounded in jazz, the music moves fluidly between singer-songwriter sensibilities, lyric-driven storytelling, and open, responsive ensemble playing. The choice of acclaimed musician Aaron Parks as pianist and co-producer is not haphazard: many of the tunes were first conceived in 2014, when they worked closely together in Denmark. Though the songs lay dormant for years, their eventual recording is unforced and timely.

Joined by Thomas Morgan and Jongkuk Kim, the two-day session at Clubhouse Recording Studio in Rhinebeck yielded twelve recordings, eight of which form the final album. The quartet’s interplay is marked by restraint, trust, and space: Parks’ piano provides a harmonic and emotional anchor, while Morgan’s distinctive tone and Kim’s highly responsive drumming allow the songs to unfold with clarity and patience. Lyric and melody remain central, whilst the music moves fluidly between jazz improvisation and a song-based sensibility.

Recorded with minimal rehearsal, form, tempo, and dynamics remain flexible and shaped in the moment. Rather than fixed arrangements, the music develops through attentive interaction, with piano, bass, and drums responding closely to the vocal line. Improvisation grows organically from the songs themselves, informed by shared listening and a calm, unhurried pace.

From the outward-looking hope of Heartshaped to the shadowed, nocturnal worlds of The Calling and In the Sound of the Night, the album moves between light and darkness without forcing resolution. Big Heart emerges as one of the album’s most intimate moments, shaped by personal loss and unexpected musical turns, where generosity and grief sit side by side. Rather than offering answers, Heartshaped listens closely, allowing each song to arrive in its own time.