“Patrick Costello brings the excitement of young love to life with a rockabilly track which builds right up to a fantastic explosive finish.”*
There’s something absolutely infectious about “Heart Like A Hurricane” (October 26th 2026) by Patrick Costello of San Francisco. It’s a very much a “boy meets girl” story in terms of the subject matter, but the real magic of the song is in the sheer energy with which it’s delivered. Costello is in full fledged fun/passionate mode here, celebrating the thrill of attraction, the excitement and the desire for physical intimacy that comes with meeting someone who just hits you in the feels. Rather than go the slow, romantic route he opts for a very lively electric rockabilly treatment which makes it a track absolutely made for turning it up and getting into it.
The groove is absolutely the star of the song. It’s all rockabilly from start to finish, with a solid rock guitar, some great funky keyboard work and Costello’s very soulful male vocal providing another dimension. The guitar is full of character and the keyboards add a real funky edge which makes the whole thing feel quite large for a fairly straightforward rock ‘n’ roll song. There’s clearly a love of the early days of rock ‘n’ roll (Elvis and The Blasters are the obvious influences) but Costello isn’t just trying to make a pastiche of that. He’s taken that spirit and given it a distinctly danceable feel. What’s so good about ‘Heart Like A Hurricane’ is the way it develops. It doesn’t just go bang bang bang. It builds up, the excitement gathers, there’s a huge guitar solo which is the big moment in the song, then it drops right down. There’s a huge space before it comes back and when it does come back it’s absolutely devastating. It really pushes the song to the finish and the finish is absolutely tight. It’s a very well thought out structure, gives the song a real sense of movement and the final section is absolutely earned. The drop after the solo and the huge surge back in to the finish is one of the key features of the track. The rhythm section really is the star of the song in my opinion. Costello’s drumming is what gives it so much of its character, particularly the classic rockabilly snare work. There’s a lot of ghost notes which add a real sense of movement to the rhythm, a kind of drive which makes you really want to get up and move. It’s a detail you don’t necessarily notice at first, but it’s absolutely essential to the feel of the groove. O’Mahoney’s bass is the bedrock of the song and Finch’s guitar work is what really pushes it along. The recording was co-produced and engineered by Ari Rios at Laughing Tiger Studios in San Rafael, CA. Rios also provided the background vocals and did the mix.
For Costello this release is also a very enjoyable change of direction. Through The KnabokovCollective he’s dabbled in all sorts of different musical styles (political blues rock, political Latin rock, emotional bluegrass, instrumental rock/jazz/reggae etc). This one is a bit more playful, it’s about passion, about attraction, about danceable grooves. That shift of direction is what gives “Heart Like A Hurricane” such a fresh feel. It’s an artist having a go at a different facet of songwriting, still very much in the rock ‘n’ roll tradition which is where he started. “Heart Like A Hurricane” works because it knows precisely what it is. It’s an energetic celebration of romance, of the beat, of the connection. The memorable melody, the lively instrumentation, the well constructed arrangement and the sheer explosion of the finish all make for a very entertaining piece of work with a lot of character. Patrick Costello has obviously had a lot of fun in his exploration of this fun, sexy side of his songwriting and that fun is absolutely evident in the track.
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