Signs of Light

Development

Signs of Light is The Head and the Heart's first studio album since 2013’s Let's Be Still. After signing with Warner Bros. Records, the band reached out to Jay Joyce to help produce the album. The album is named after the final track of the album, "Signs of Light" which was written by Josiah Johnson, who went on hiatus from the band in March 2016.

Release and promotion

Signs of Light debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200, selling 40,000 equivalent-album units in its first week, with 37,000 coming from pure album sales. This is their second consecutive top 10 album, when Let's Be Still peaked at number 10 in 2013. The album also debuted at the top spot on the Top Rock Albums chart, which ranks the week’s best-selling rock albums.

Singles

On June 3, 2016, "All We Ever Knew" was released as the album's lead single and was made available for purchase and streaming. The music video released on the July 21, 2016, which was directed by Marc Klasfeld. On its seventh week, the song reached the top spot on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart, the band's first since "Lost in My Mind" in 2011. Jonathan Russell told Esquire that "All We Ever Knew" was chosen as the lead single because, "it felt like a bridge between what we have been doing musically and what we're leaning towards. There are definitely songs on the record that are more examples of a direction that people haven't seen us go in. It felt like this record had a foot in the past and a foot in the future."

On September 14, 2016, they performed "All We Ever Knew" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The song was also performed on the series premiere of Showtime's Roadies.