Harp, the musical project of former Midlake singer Tim Smith, announces debut album “Albion” and shares the lead single and video “I Am The Seed”.
In 2016, Lawry-Joseph Tilbury (A.K.A Birdengine), interviewed Ex-Midlake frontman and songwriter Tim Smith for Folk Radio (read it here). In that interview, Tim spoke at length about a new project he was calling Harp:
“Musically, I think Harp for the first album will sound very much the same as old Midlake. I won’t be breaking any new ground; I doubt I ever will; it’s not what I strive for. There will probably be subtle changes from the old Midlake stuff, but for the most part, if you enjoyed “Occupanther” and “Courage”, then you’ll enjoy this.”
Seven years later, Bella Union are today announcing Tim’s debut album Albion as Harp. It is a joint project with his wife, Kathi Zung, and the suggestion is that Albion has starker, darker hues than Smith is typically renowned for while it also has the quintessence of what drew people in the first place to his work with Midlake. Watch the accompanying atmospheric and enigmatic video for the lead track, “I Am The Seed“, a song about creativity and helplessness that captures the changes Smith has gone through since he went solo. Tim and Kathi directed the video in collaboration with Director of Photography David Zung.
Visions change and evolve, and a lot will have changed for Tim in intervening years since that interview, including musical tastes – where he was listening to mostly 70s music, he has since taken inspiration from another decade – “Along came ’80s music”, I knew of bands and I had heard the odd song, but I had never dug deep into Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, Tears For Fears before. The major album for me though was The Cure’s Faith, which I listened to non-stop for three years. That music really resonated with me, so I was led in a different direction, which took a long time to figure out because I was on my own, learning how to record better, mix better, write better.”
It’s also interesting to look back and read how he visualised the sound of Harp back then:
“It’ll definitely be a step closer to what’s in my head, though other people may not hear a difference. Originally, I had wanted Harp to be a bit more medieval sounding, more intimate sounding, more synthesizers, less dark, and overall just more enjoyable to listen to. I wanted it to be okay to have every track sound very mellow with flute solos, wind chimes, and oboes because that was something that couldn’t be truly explored in Midlake because of the need to have a decently exciting live show. At first, there was this sense of freedom to do exactly what I wanted, but the more I work on it, I see that while I can steer it a little more in that direction, I can’t truly escape that Midlake sound, at least not yet. Maybe albums after this one will have a much different sound, but I think this first one (if I can ever finish it) will sound very much like a long-lost Midlake album.”
Bella Union reminds us that this man courageously left Midlake when he felt the two-years-plus attempt to capture “definitive versions” of his songs for the band’s fourth album had come up short. Smith once said such perfectionism “is not in the way that every note must be played perfectly and precisely. That is the opposite of what I wanted.” Instead, he simply seeks music “played with greater feeling.”
To this end, Smith made Albion mostly on his own at home. Still, there are contributions from former Midlake bassist Paul Alexander on “Silver Wings” and “Throne Of Amber”, electric guitar by Max Kinghorn-Mills of the Brighton (UK) band Hollow Hand on “Seven Long Suns” (incidentally the working title for Midlake’s unfinished fourth album, though this recording is totally new, likewise the chorus and lyrics) plus mixing assistance from Scott Solter. One crucial addition was Smith’s wife, Kathi Zung, who he considers a member of Harp, not just because she programmed the drums. “Kathi has a very good ear, and she’s very knowledgeable about music. She’s been right here alongside me these past five years, helping me with every part of the process.”
Britsh Folklore and history cast its spell over the album title – “I’m really drawn to Britain,” he says, “especially Medieval and Renaissance times. The landscapes and gardens, the castles and Tudor-style villages, grey skies, and the mist on the moor.”
There are also literary influences, including fantasy and science fiction writer Roger Zelazny and his multiverse novel series The Great Book of Amber and 19th-century poet, artist, and seer William Blake’s epic poem Visions of The Daughters Of Albion.
One of the most significant changes in Smith’s life has to be his marriage to Kathi. In 2016, he opened our interview:
“Two months after I left the band, sadly my wife and I got divorced after 11 years of marriage. So I sold our house and most everything we owned. She moved to another state; I moved back in with my parents in Kerrville, Texas (which is about a 6-hour drive from where I was living in Denton, Texas) in order to save money or live as cheaply as possible while trying to make this album. So that’s where I’m at, in the spare bedroom of my parent’s house with a bunch of recording gear and my dog.”
As the press says, One cornerstone of Smith’s worldview is his new circumstances: a recent marriage and living in a new town in a new state. After decades living in Denton, Texas, he is now based in Kathi’s home town of Durham, North Carolina. She emerges in two of Albion’s love songs. “A Fountain” recalls a heartbreak that Smith suffered, “but then something even better happened: I met Kathi,” whilst “Seven Long Suns” is more bittersweet: “meeting Kathi later in life, in our forties, and thinking about the time we have left together.”
This will surely be one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2023.
Albion Tracklisting
1. The Pleasant Grey
2. I Am The Seed
3. A Fountain
4. Daughters of Albion
5. Chrystals
6. Country Cathedral Drive
7. Shining Spires
8. Silver Wings
9. Seven Long Suns
10. Moon
11. Throne of Amber
12. Herstmonceux
More: https://harpband.com/