Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly

There’s a lot packed into the less-than-two-minute running time of “Miles to Meters,” the first recorded music the world has heard from Seattle expat Heather Duby in several years. A first it sounds like a solo vocal, Heather’s husky alto stark and alone, as if recorded into a handheld recorder in the wee hours. But then a harmony line appears with the chorus and you realize it was two voices all along, double-tracked so as to be almost indistinguishable from each other until that lovely falling melody reveals them. After the second verse comes another surprise as more voices join in, backing up the chorus with beautifully cascading “ooh”s. As soon as it ends you want to start right back at the beginning again.

Lyrically, “Miles to Meters” reminds us that a life well lived is a series of failures, and all we can do is keep falling and keep learning – ironically, a lesson that itself can be hard to remember. If this is the caliber of work Heather’s been keeping from us all these years, I sincerely hope there’s more to come before too long. Regardless, I am incredibly honored  Ball of Wax to be the vehicle for this long-awaited gem to be released to the world.