Title: “Dirty Little Heart”
By: Alex Simms
From: Enigma (2013)
Release Date: May 26, 2013
Length: 3:57
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, 7” Single, Weekly Airplay
Recorded: March/May 2013 – Orlando, Florida
Genre: Pop-Punk, Post-Hardcore
Label: Songs To Love And Die By
Written: April 2013
Writer(s): Alex Simms
Producer(s): Alex Simms, Amy Meyer

‘Dirty Little Heart’ is a song written and recorded by American post-hardcore musician ‘Alex Simms’, it will be released as a single following his previous effort, the critically successful ‘Golden Hearts Shine Forever’ and will be taken from his upcoming debut album which is widely expected to be released sometime in the summer. The song comes after the relatively unknown musician was spotted by Riot! In The Boulevard lead singer ‘Amy Meyer’ and subsequently signed to her independent record label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’, they quickly got to work on recording some songs and eventually Alex settled on ‘Golden Hearts Shine Forever’ as a debut single, the single was relatively successful for a debut and Alex continued to spend time in a recording studio in Orlando, Florida where he has been plotting his debut album which was recently announced to be titled ‘Enigma’. He was then given the opportunity to select another of the recorded songs to follow ‘Golden Hearts’ as the second single to be taken from the album and settled on ‘Dirty Little Heart’.

The track comes in at just under four minutes in length and features a heavy guitar riff throughout as well as some cut-wrenching vocal deliveries that combine with the song’s lyrics which tend to hit home rather emphatically when he’s singing them, according to Alex, “It’s a song about a moment in my life, it’s one hundred percent about a previous relationship and about a specific person, so it has a definite rawness that I think is sometimes best to avoid. It’s not a dwelling on the past sort of song, it is an angry however but I do feel like it can be seen as some sort of anthem song for the broken hearted.” and this sentiment was recently shown further during a recent showcase performance of the song at a venue in New York where Alex gave this introduction, “This song goes out to anybody who’s been let down, to anybody who’s been hurt by love in the past … but more importantly this song is for anybody who’s just wanted to say a big f*ck you to the person that caused so much pain.”

An early review of the single read like this, “Dirty Little Heart is just about the perfect introduction for a still relatively unknown musician like Alex Simms. It’s a tone setter for what we’d imagine from his debut album both musically and lyrically, starting off relatively sweet sounding with that beautiful falsetto rock voice that Alex possesses as he sings about falling for the wrong girl “I fell for you at the worst time but I made a vow to make you mine” rather sneakily gives the listener the wrong idea for where the song is gonna go and even before the first verse has finished it’s become very clear that this isn’t quite the sweet love story sort of ballad that you may have expected.
There’s a real venom behind Alex’s vocals throughout the song and the powerful guitar backing just adds to that feeling, but it’s the lyrics that are the important elements that unlock the feelings of the song, “I can proudly say that I stayed true but I can’t say the same for you” and suddenly it’s all about power as Alex delivers a fully formed rock verse, “So just go/The princess turned into a whore/I don’t ever want to see your face again/I don’t wanna think about your cheating heart no more.” and it’s clear to all what the song is all about, the instruments are turned up loud and the song quickly becomes a sort of revenge anthem for good guys “Yeah I know that someday he’ll throw your dirty little heart away.”

The song was recorded by Alex Simms and a selection of backing musicians that have been present throughout the majority of the recording of his debut album, those musicians are ‘Frankie Fallon’, ‘Josh Kingston’ and ‘Jesse Holmes’. While the track was produced by both Alex Simms and Amy Meyer at a recording studio in Orlando, Florida throughout April and May. The track is just under four minutes in length and it will be made available to purchase as a CD Single, Digital Download and 7” Single and will be made available to listen to on Airplay, Soundcloud, Spotify and Last.fm as well as a lyric video being made available on Youtube via the official ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ page. The single will be officially released on May 26, 2013 through ‘Songs to Love and Die By’.

The song starts off with a heavy electric guitar introduction that continues almost entirely throughout the song, it sets the general tone of the lyrics and as the opening lines of the song arrive it becomes clear that Alex’s vocals are set to match the guitar as much as possible, it starts off in a loud falsetto rock delivery and becomes more stronger as he delivers lyrics like “I can proudly say that I stayed true/But I can’t say the same for you.” and “You’re gonna be alone someday/And I’ll be all you can think about/The one that got away.” as well as “I can’t believe I fell for you/Put up with all the bullsh*t that you put me through”.
The lead guitar provided by Alex Simms is also complemented by the session musicians which provide, bass guitar, drums and second guitar in order to flesh out the overall instrumentation of the song.


LYRICS

“I fell for you at the worst time
But I made a vow to make you mine
You made it clear that I’d regret it
Yet I promised you that I would be fine
So you took a chance on me
Throughout the joy and misery
And I can proudly say that I stayed true
But I can’t say the same for you

So just go
The princess turned into a whore
I don’t ever want to see your face again
I don’t wanna think about your cheating heart no more
So just go
Walk out of the door
I don’t ever want to see your face again
I don’t wanna think about your lying heart no more

I’m sure that it won’t take you too long
To find somebody new
I’ll bet lover boy is waiting
Patiently for you!
But I know that one day
You’re gonna be alone someday
And I’ll be all that you can think about
The one that got away

But for now
I may be alone
But I think that’s okay
Because I won’t always be this way
But you
You may have someone new
But I know that someday
He’ll see the real you
Yeah I know that someday
He’ll throw your dirty little heart away

I can’t believe I fell for you
Put up with all the bullsh*t that you put me through
I was stupid to think that I was the one for you
And I can proudly say that I stayed true
But I can’t say the same for you

So just go
The princess turned into a whore
I don’t ever want to see your face again
I don’t wanna think about your cheating heart no more
So just go
Walk out of the door
I don’t ever want to see your face again
I don’t wanna think about your lying heart no more"

PERSONNEL

Alex Simms – lead vocals, lead guitar, lyrics, production
Frankie Fallon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Josh Kingston – drums, percussion
Jesse Holmes – second guitar, backing vocals
Amy Meyer – production
Amelia Fontaine – cover art design

SOUNDS LIKE

Pierce The Veil – Bulletproof Love