Native Harrow — “Old Kind of Magic”
Americana Highways is hosting this video premiere of Native Harrow’s song “Old Kind Of Magic” The song is the title track on their upcoming release Old Kind Of Magic out October 28th on Loose Music.
Old Kind of Magic is the fifth album from Native Harrow – Stephen Harms and Devin Tuel – and arrives two years after they left Pennsylvania for a new life in Sussex. It is in this new place that the duo self-produced a work that is simultaneously their most sweepingly expansive and delicately intimate album to date. The songs on Old Kind Of Magic move dramatically from the opening field recording of the Brighton seaside, to Laurel Canyon-esque folk-rock, piano and Rhodes-tinged soul-jazz balladry, oud and harpsichord driven 60s technicolor psychedelia, dense modernistic string quartet writing, and wide-as-the-western skies panoramic pedal steel with sepia-toned 12-string.
On the title track “Old Kind of Magic” glittery Rhodes and glistening hollow body guitar parlay with bright-eyed bass and outstretched California canyon drums, creating a sound described by the band as evoking “the golden light of 70’s FM radio, spilling across the plush wall-to-wall carpet of suburban reminiscence and recollection.”
Usually, Native Harrow songs are written fairly quickly, within a single writing session, maybe the occasional next day verse three re-write or tweaked bridge. Sometimes they’re done in ten or fifteen minutes, start to finish. “Old Kind of Magic” took much longer. I sat with the chorus for half a year before the verses finally revealed themselves. – Devin Tuel
We recorded “Old Kind of Magic” in our flat at the top of an old regency building in Brighton, UK, during the summer of 2021. We cut the lead vocal, acoustic guitar, and electric bass live as a duo and then began overdubbing the layers. First came the keyboards; Mellotron flutes for intros and interludes, B3 in the choruses, and Rhodes throughout. We used the stairwell for harmony vocals, percussion, and the double-track acoustic, placing a U47 down on the landing below to lend some ambiance and space.
“For the electric guitar overdub, I used a Gretsch (tuned to double drop D) and a tweed bassman, with a bit of tape deck flanging and tried to add something exuberant and joyful, a part that shimmered above the mix rather than existing inside it. – Stephen Harms
Find the latest info here: nativeharrow.com