On his third album, “Heartbeats,” Effin brings together twelve songs that explore love with warmth and intensity. On “Heartbeats,” romantic vocals and vintage samples mix with dubstep bass, hip-hop rhythms, and passages of future funk. The Nashville-based producer transforms recordings from earlier decades and incorporates them into his own music.
Effin had already been drawing on vintage sounds and aesthetics in “Cheap Thrills” (2023) and “Daydreams” (2025), but “Heartbeats” brings a more personal dimension to that approach. A romantic relationship, a growing sense of self, and the connections he built with fans throughout the past year all helped shape the album’s exploration of love.
“I got to come home week after week from shows, meeting people and hearing about their experience with my music, especially ‘Daydreams,’ and try to convert the love they showed me into the music for this new album,” Effin explains.
“Heartbeat” begins with a heartbeat that speeds up before giving way to an orchestral jazz sample. More sounds gradually enter until the heavy dubstep bass kicks in. The song shows how Effin combines the album’s romantic side with moments of greater force.
“Heartaches,” meanwhile, brings soul and hip-hop together by reworking Jackie Wilson’s “Those Heartaches.” meanwhile, brings soul and hip-hop together by reworking Jackie Wilson’s “Those Heartaches.”
“Forever & Always” starts with a warm melody, followed by a distorted female voice. Within a minute, heavy electronic beats and metallic sounds emerge, alternating with a soft chorus in the background. That contrast allows the song to move between gentle and more intense moments.
Chopped, pitch-shifted vocals connect the songs and provide melody even when the bass and rhythms grow stronger. Many come from Effin’s search through songs from the 1950s and 1960s. He listened to different versions of the same composition, extracted small fragments, and brought them together in new pieces. A phrase from one performance can end up alongside another taken from a different recording.
The album also incorporates dialogue from a 1950s film about the “Mole People” and processed jazz flutes. Its references include Johnny Mathis’s “Heavenly,” Motown, and 1990s New York hip-hop. That variety allows him to work with voices and instruments that have their own history and give them a different sound.
While creating the album, Effin wanted each song to stand on its melody and central idea, beyond the production details. That gave him room to experiment with hip-hop vocals, house rhythms, and arrangements that, on some tracks, replace the electronic drop with a combination of instruments and samples.
The closing section includes a recreation inspired by The Anita Kerr Singers, whose vocal harmonies appeared on numerous Nashville recordings during the 1950s and 1960s. The reference ties “Heartbeats” to the musical history of Effin’s adopted home while extending his use of sounds from the past.
Effin also builds that connection through his Sunday Soirée gatherings in Nashville, where he brings fans together to share music in a more intimate setting. These events extend the sense of community behind “Heartbeats,” an album shaped in part by the affection and stories listeners have shared with him.
The strength of “Heartbeats” lies in the contrast between soft vocals and heavy bass. Effin transforms the recordings without entirely erasing their romantic character, and that sense of intimacy remains even in the most intense moments.
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