Track by Track: Harry Heart - 'Summon It'
Manchester-based Harry Heart recently released his debut album Summon It. He took a moment to talk us through it track by track.
Cleo
This song was written around a synthesiser loop that reminded me of Nicolas Jaar. Once I finished writing the track I took the loop out. It was like the bowl that helped the jelly set. I wanted a cinematic, progressive sound that drew on a few genres, and I was listening to a lot of dub (reggae) at the time, hence the bass-heavy pulse. The song is really all about lying to get what you want. Not a good idea.
Kamikaze
I wrote Kamikaze really quickly, which tends to happen with the more aggressive, rocky songs. It’s the meeting place of Calvin Harris and The Killers. It felt good to keep it simple and big, there’s a place for a song like that on every album. In the spirit of the song title, the track is all about going through the motions in a relationship, holding each other up and bringing each other down.
Harbourside
This was an acoustic track initially, I wrote it in my apartment in Fremantle. It felt a little too sobby, so I came at it from a different angle, distortion, and the song came to life. There’s quite a lot of frustration on this one. It was written about watching the Darling Harbour fireworks from my housemate’s bedroom every weekend, and feeling the very opposite of how you’re supposed to feel when you see something like that.
Guaranteed Peace
This was the quickest track to start and finish on the album. I went to the studio after a song-writer never showed up for a co-writing session that we’d organised, and the riff and lyrics came flying out. I like the larger than life vibe of this track, it makes you feel untouchable. A good track to listen to on the way to telling your boss that you quit. A bit of angry morale.
Amino
I tried a few guitar tone options on this one and couldn’t pick my favourite, so I kept them all. It’s the turning point on the album, the pace really changes. There’s clearly some James Blake and Bon Iver elements in there, I wanted to keep the spirit of not limiting myself and being as imaginative as possible. I started this song in Australia and finished it in the UK, I feel like there’s a verse for each country in there.
Urchins
This is a real hybrid. There’s elements of Gorillaz, TV on the Radio, Born Ruffians, all those genre benders. I think it has the most interesting production on the album. I tried to give quite a pop-influenced song a more gritty sound, rough on the outside but soft in the middle, which is why it’s called Urchins. Lyrically, it’s a little pep talk for people that feel downtrodden and defeated. To focus on what you want to accomplish next, you’ve got to congratulate yourself on what you’ve achieved already.
Heat
I wanted to do my version of Drake’s Hold On, We’re Going Home. That’s where this track came from, but I don’t think that’s where it ended up. My hip-hop producer friend Pat Gillin helped me with the beat and percussion, and I recorded Aussie guitarist Jimmy C noodling on his Stratocaster for ages. I took my favourite moments and sprinkled them throughout the track. The song’s about moving on, arrogantly expecting someone to struggle without you, then realising they’re actually better off.
Fell So Low
This was the first song written for the album. It’s about becoming more and more vacant as a person the more engaged and obsessed I became with music. The tones and texture of the track are quite dreamy and atmospheric, it’s a blend of Devendra Banhart and John Martyn as far as influence goes. The track sounds the way a conversation sounds when I’m not paying attention to what’s being said because I have a song idea that I’m mulling over on the DL.