A brand-new album release from Harpers delivers a lush and fantastical but sincerely honest and character-riddled classic rock approach and soundscape that comes through with this amazing persona, some experimental production, and such addicting progressions and textures that you can't turn away from it.
What Do We Do Now? certainly comes from someplace real and in a way serves as chapters in the singers life, coated in such layers of beautifully performed vocal harmonies both in the upfront and background and at times they're just used like instruments themselves to create sways and swells that build notes floating through the record's ether and this, in turn, builds this beautiful atmosphere for you to just fall into and get washed away with.
The guitar tones, the way the drums were recorded and mixed, and some of the keys all very much so back in this 1960s and early '70s classic rock vibe is incredibly nailed here but it also has something refreshing to it as well which lets the song kind of feel expansive in a way and it goes past just that aesthetic alone into something more current.
It delves into that indie pop vibe but with that pure classic rock sound nailed which is incredible because when you listen to it you are just pulled away from the things that are surrounding you and you are put into this different world altogether for a chunk of time.
You can hear these influences that played a part in the classic almost psychedelic undertone of this piece and the whole thing has its own persona attached to it which is a big part of how the songs grab you.
The deeper you go into the record the more you start to get a sense of the Americana and pure singer-songwriter influences as well.
The way that everything is woven together and how those textures complement each other is just amazing between the electric guitars in different parts and different layers and how they are affected with either a sort of chorus or tremolo and how there are different uses and sounds that come from the keys.
It all meshes together so well and in such a forward-moving flow that the song just feels so natural in a way and so floaty.
Certain songs do indeed have an almost dream-esque undertone at times, and the way that songs are arranged especially instrument-wise is unreal because this lets the songs feel alive and breathing.
Is this record like a love letter to the bands that Harpers grew up listening to?
I feel like it is but just in part. The other part of it is how he takes those kinds of influences and builds his own soundscape with them and that's part of the beauty of this song.
The other part is how he delivers this level of honesty lyrically which is kind of like giving little pieces of himself to the world and this is something that artists of any kind should do in my opinion.
I don't just mean music. I mean all kinds of art.
This album speaks volumes for a youth in bands who can just delve into themselves musically and create songs with much fewer boundaries than the norm.
This is the type of record that you listen to as a whole as opposed to just one or two songs because if you do it that way, you're missing out on the full spectrum of what the album actually has to deliver.
This is a record that you soak in from beginning to end without question because in a certain way, as I said before, in that sense, it's like a concept record.
The album has a beautiful way of sort of swimming around in the air that surrounds you and when you begin to swim with it, it feels amazing as this record is more of an experience than just an album.
I would suggest listening to this with headphones on so you can hear all these elements throughout the songs that peek their heads out.
I'm going to give this a 9 out of 10 because it's delivered with heart, honesty, persona, and just an amazingly full-bodied sense of songwriting that lets you get engulfed and everything.