For her new album, Warm Chris, former Dunedin singer-songwriter Aldous Harding reunited with UK producer John Parish — perhaps best known until now for his work with PJ Harvey — continuing a professional partnership that had already produced 2017’s Party and 2019’s Designer. The latter included APRA Silver Scroll-winning song The Barrel, and peaked at five on the local album chart while attracting the attention of the international music press.
All 10 tracks for the new album were recorded at Rockfield Studios, Wales and include contributions from H. Hawkline, Seb Rochford, Gavin Fitzjohn, John and Hopey Parish and Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods).
Here our panel of listeners gives their first impressions, including a poet’s take by Emma Neale on the lyrics of second single Fever:
Millie Lovelock. Photo: Tonje Thilesen
TRACK ONE: ENNUI
There’s a progression and a circularity in this track that befits its name. I’m drawn in by Harding’s clippled delivery on "hands on heels/ a way of life. Philosophy". The lyric is a somersault into the pulsing piano part, smoother motion plastered over by Harding’s vocals, which have the quality of a highly resonant string instrument. Abstraction works for Harding, and this album is no exception — the undulating registers in Ennui carry me into its depths and propel me towards lightheadedness.
Harding’s lyrics are playful and wry. I always get the sense listening to her that she sees right through people; she always knows exactly what she’s talking about even when you can’t quite pinpoint it yourself. In Ennui, fragmented lyrics are punctuated by rolling tonal changes in the instrumentation, the song is conversational at the same time as it is disorienting. I feel through the haze of this track that I can only sense the edges of the space it maps out, but I’m immersed in Harding’s world nevertheless.
— Millie Lovelock
Millie Lovelock plans to release a new Repulsive Woman EP in the coming winter.
repulsivewoman.bandcamp.com
Emma Neale. Photo: Linda Robertson
TRACK THREE: FEVER
Initially, I was drawn to Fever for some lines that appear self-contained yet quirky as the printed slips from fortune cookies. Then came the surprise of how differently the silences arrive in the sung version.
Tension and colour come from the split between the song’s innocent musicality and the darker turn in the words: looking into either the blankness of the lover’s eyes, or the void, there is a falling away from early desire, maybe even from an ardent commitment to life itself: "I still stare at you in the dark/Looking for that thrill in the nothing."
The voice takes small leaps at joy "Fever!" "Never!" "Eleven!" but then drops back, as if sadness — or a jaded weariness? — is a leash pulling at her throat. Small runs of light, uncomplicated optimism get slowed and shifted by the saxophone. The last lines almost sound sung through the numbing of Novocaine; as if, even when we get the words right, we mumble them, knowing they might devastate.
It’s such a composed, downbeat delivery for a song about fever: melancholy with a twist of dry humour, like martini with a lemon peel garnish.
— Emma Neale
The Pink Jumpsuit: short fictions, tall truths, by Emma Neale, was published late last year.
emmaneale.wordpress.com
Calla Knudson
TRACK FOUR: WARM CHRIS
The Aldous groove greets us again in Warm Chris, in all its strange colours, making us want to move in our best awkward ways. From country to Berlin, the crowd crying at your feet, painful tears of joy from a world gone mad. Played the part in your own little way, a taste of the world’s madness on your face. Now we are gifted another arcane birthing. I can hear a different voice in each song on the album, each speaking to a different experience. Warm Chris, the title track for this latest album, reverts back to the style of Aldous’ first album with Aldous’ intimate, carefree raw vocal style and sparse guitar accompaniment. I also hear influence in the vocal style from Perfume Genius who appeared on Party. What that voice is saying is between the listener and Aldous — an indirect and cryptic conversation. Warm Chris carries a melancholic, introspective tone. I imagine Aldous, like many artists, has been impacted by the global lockdown and separation from performing her music live — the only planes that have been flying are the paper ones that burn up in the heat. Perhaps Aldous is trapped indoors looking to a relationship she doesn’t actually want as the world stops around her, finally having more time on her hands but nothing to do with it.
— Calla Knudson
Calla Knudson’s EP My Body of Water is available on her Bandcamp site. She has another EP planned for mid-year.
callanz.bandcamp.com
Jenny Mitchell. Photo: Erin Isaacs
TRACK SEVEN: SHE’LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN
"When I started out I had much more than I have now," is a line that instantly evokes a sense of mourning. Whatever experiences one’s younger self has had, this simple song will make you yearn for the naivete of it. I expected the track to remain in its initial stripped back piano and vocal form and was pleasantly surprised when the banjo whispered in — a sound as raw and exposed as Harding’s voice itself.
The lyrics, "living for the things that I love, killing the ones that love me", seem, to me, clearly connected to the personal
sacrifices of a musician on the road. As with much of Harding’s work, She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain could be interpreted in many different ways. To me, it’s a song about the more solitary aspects of artistry. It’s a heartbreakingly intimate tune that sure to delight fans, old and new.
— Jenny Mitchell
Jenny Mitchell has a new single, Trouble Finds a Girl, and another due out in April 7.
Nadia Reid. Photo: Alex Lovell-Smith
TRACK TEN: LEATHERY WHIP
The last track of an Aldous Harding arrival album. And my favourite.
There’s a new-found lightness here, a familiar yet new (if that’s a thing) drawl in her many voices.
On first listen, one might suspect there is a tinge of silliness here but as I listen more I’m brought to a spine-tingling welling up of sorts. I’m nostalgic. This song is a balm to my soul.
As it lifts into the pre-chorus, I’m a little bit older, but I remain un-changed. I’ll have to admit, I’m crying in a cathartic way.
The lyrics? Mysterious as ever. The melody? Effortless, mantra-like, and the kind of power you can’t learn at music school. Aldous Harding is poetry in motion.
Throughout the four minutes, I am filled to the brim with comfort, I crack a smile, causing my heart to burst. I don’t take myself quite as seriously as I did before listening.
It takes bravery to admit that life can be heavy at times. And I believe that the best art enables us to walk up to the mirror and look within. When it comes to Aldous and her art, nothing is given away with too much specificity, inviting the listener to do the work.
Time and again we’re shown that Aldous is truly the master of voice, using it as a fine instrument. Showing us what she is capable of.
As the world comes at us yet again with his leathery whip, this song, since it was played to me in a car as a demo, gives me the comfort, power and passion that I so desperately need. Right now. Right here.
Personally, Aldous (Hannah) continues to be one of the greatest teachers of song and art that I’ve ever known and had the pleasure of getting close to.
— Nadia Reid
Nadia Reid is working on a fourth studio album and will be touring New Zealand in July.
