Native Harrow - Closeness
Retro psych-folk duo, Native Harrow transport us back to the 70’s on their newest release, Closeness their fourth album and quick follow-up to 2019’s Happier Now. The duo work extensively on this album to create a wild soundscape, echoed by the west coast 70’s sound, think Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and early Neil Young, whose harmonies released a wild spirit; and Native Harrow unleash much of the same spirit. The band’s West Coast aesthetic is ironic given their native home is Pennsylvania, but the aesthetic is vibrant, colourful and oozing warmth, which comes across in frontwoman Devin Tuel’s husky vocals and melancholic delivery.
Closeness starts with a coarse rumbling number in the album’s lead single, ‘Shake’ a quick, but fiery opener that draws up a primal wilderness with its rockabilly rhythm and the journey-bound vocal style taking us on a trip out evoking On The Road and Jack Kerouac with the melancholic feel of the trip that Tuel takes us on. The mood mellows out on the following track ‘The Dying of Ages’, which takes a very different coarse than ‘Shake’ with Tuel’s brooding melody combined with a garden of sounds consisting of acoustics, percussion and flute that wistfully transcend into something spiritual that captures the free love of the west coast in the 70’s.The warmth of this record doesn’t stifle out like a candle that very slowly burns until the end, this candle burns best on the song ‘Smoke Burns’ - an exceptionally suitable name with the slide guitar gently weeping in the background and the gruff vocals that expand the composition further into something fluid and deeply moving.
A personal highlight on this album is the gospel-inspiredtrack ‘Carry On’. Tuel’s vocal style reflects more of the east-coast singer/songwriter than the west with Carole King and Bill Withers coming across strongly in her vocal style, which is more rounded and bolder than earlier in the album. The addition of a gospel choir would initially seem out of place on a folk/Americana album, but its inclusion pays off, giving it a heavenly aura that lifts not sinks the atmosphere of the album. Another standout track is the tender, wholesome ‘Turn Turn’ shuffling around the melody of Tuel and the brushes of drummer Stephen Harms intertwining with each other in a cycle of contemplative, loose-limbed sensations.
Closeness untangles the knots of everyday life providing a calming, yet introspective impression of music in movement – A movement which we are all a part of.
7/10
