Big Harp have just finished working with indie super-producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, Rogue Wave, David Byrne) on the self-titled “Big Harp” (SINGLE RELEASE on FAT POSSUM March 10th, 2015), their third album in only three years.
Following their now-usual pattern of album-to-album reinvention, they’ve created a strikingly modern, vibrant sound that takes the best elements of their first two records and adds heaping dollops of explosive color and light. Incorporating inspirations and sounds from ‘60s psych to ‘80s megapop, from brooding melancholy to unbridled joy, “Big Harp” is the statement of a band that has burst through genre limitations and uncovered a unique, original voice.
Big Harp has songs placed on TV shows (Girls, Suits, Pysch, etc.), co-written and recorded a song featured in the closing credits of a movie (Stuck in Love) and have been featured on All Things Considered on NPR.
Chris S...
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Big Harp have just finished working with indie super-producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, Rogue Wave, David Byrne) on the self-titled “Big Harp” (SINGLE RELEASE on FAT POSSUM March 10th, 2015), their third album in only three years.
Following their now-usual pattern of album-to-album reinvention, they’ve created a strikingly modern, vibrant sound that takes the best elements of their first two records and adds heaping dollops of explosive color and light. Incorporating inspirations and sounds from ‘60s psych to ‘80s megapop, from brooding melancholy to unbridled joy, “Big Harp” is the statement of a band that has burst through genre limitations and uncovered a unique, original voice.
Big Harp has songs placed on TV shows (Girls, Suits, Pysch, etc.), co-written and recorded a song featured in the closing credits of a movie (Stuck in Love) and have been featured on All Things Considered on NPR.
Chris Senseney and Stefanie Drootin-Senseney (The Good Life, Bright Eyes, She & Him) formed Big Harp in 2011, after a three-year whirlwind that saw the two meet, have a baby, move halfway across the country, get married, move halfway across the country again, and have another baby. When the dust settled, they holed up in Stefanie’s parents’ spare bedroom, practiced for a week, and recorded their debut album “White Hat”, a collection of dusty, low-key folk-rock laced with subtle irony and dark humor that earned them comparisons to songwriters like Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt. After earning praise for their energetic, amplified live shows, they quickly started work on a second album, “Chain Letters”, adding crackling fuzz bass and angular electric guitars and keyboards to the mix.
Now, with drummer Daniel Ocanto, they’ve put everything together in a free-wheeling, multifaceted sound that moves far beyond anything they’ve attempted before. If their first album was a relatively monochrome affair, and the second saw them adding more volume and texture to a still fairly somber, if slyly winking sound, then “Big Harp”, their self-titled third album, finds them moving whole-heartedly into brighter, sharper regions brimming with life.
"Its A Shame" - release date March 10th.
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