When Tim Smith left Midlake in 2012, expectations were heavy, especially after his old band released Antiphon, a classic in its own right a year later. One year became two, two became three… After ten years, Tim Smith returns alongside his wife Kathi Zung as Harp. Their debut release, Albion, sounds old and new at the same time. It is a point of departure and a new beginning. The wait is over, and the weight of ten years of expectations has been fulfilled.
The album was mostly recorded at his new Durham, North Carolina home. It’s been a long journey, one that included a divorce and moving back in with his parents before he met Zung and moved east. There in his new home, with former Midlake stalwart Paul Alexander playing bass for Silver Wings and Throne of Amber and Hollow Hand guitarist Max Kinghorn-Mills on Seven Long Suns, Smith crafted an album recalling “Trials of Van Occupanther.” It is an album that washes over you, slowly changing shapes and colours as it weaves its way into neural pathways.
The album title alone should tell you Smith is a devoted anglophile, and Harp sounds like an album borne from the shores of Albion any time in the last few centuries. In the best sense, this music is essentially timeless despite the electric guitars and synthesized strings. Shaded by flutes and laid out on a field of ever-changing colours, these are songs of hope and heartbreak, with each a melody that wears its heart on its sleeve.
Smith’s creative striving and the changes he experienced are on display in I Am the Seed as he sings, “Everything lies fallow/ Nothing gives what it once did.” From the dust of the past, he has seemingly been resurrected in Harp. Time has healed the old wounds that came from spending two years making an album and still being unsatisfied with the result, and given him a newfound strength to begin again.
Instead of the Sons of Albion, here we get Daughters of Albion, shifting the focus with his gauzy vocals, singing hauntingly of these sisters in the mist. Visions of Shining Spires come into view from windy fields. Longing and loneliness are often traced in these soundscapes. Songs slowly burn with a sense of uncertainty. In his fifth decade, there are hints of unease.
Smith, however, is not without hope. That comes through on the closing track, “Herstmonceux.” Amidst an almost medieval chorus of voices, a gorgeous melody emerges from the chiming guitars and analogue synths. “Quietly the sorrow flees from me/ Bright as day the soul no longer grieves/ I am the seed/ I wait, I wait for thee.” This is a man who now seems to be content with where he is in life.
While it’s been a long journey, Albion is a most auspicious beginning for Tim Smith’s second act as Harp, which finds him alongside his wife, Kathi Zung. Together, they have created new waves of hope as the dark winter approaches. Being able to see our way through the dark days ahead, we can see there are new beginnings and second chances.
More: https://harpband.com/