New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The new album Breathe from Melbourne singer songwriter, Harp Samuels offers a passing glance of hope on its journey to healing. In the aftermath of his father's death, Samuels wrote his second album, Breathe, as a reminder of the healing process. The album is now available and streaming on Spotify.
In the aftermath of his father's death, Samuels wrote his second album, Breathe, as a reminder of the healing process. On the title track and album, he captures the tension of leaving a darker space and seeking a consistency and safety that only home can provide. He explains, "It's one of those songs that I feel like I want to sing when I'm overwhelmed, as it has a 'hope' theme and makes me feel like no matter what's happening at the time, things can change, and everything is going to somehow work out." The incorporation of synth and the anthemic quality of the vocals act as thin slices of sparkling glass, cutting the tension and watching it float away from the spiritual self. "
Breathe" is a cool pond of buzzing waves being summoned upwards by powerful lyrics like, "When I'm in deep, dark waters/ You help me breathe."
The album, Breathe, is a step onto undiscovered territory for Samuels. Walking towards a more electronic-driven sound, Samuels takes strong glides into a new musical realm, which is something he values as a musician. He says, "My whole life I've loved spacey kind of electronic music, and synth based stuff so I decided to go for it! I used a Roland synthesizers, played in the beats with my fingers, a lot of vocoder, and often live manipulated the sounds during the recordings to get different vibes tonally and to keep some sense of the 'natural.'" His eagerness to expand and morph into new things musically is a representation of how he views life, as a constant cycle of changing and adapting. Breathe, inspired partly by feelings of dealing with grief and finding hope, is his way of adapting. It serves as a means to connect with other people searching for a light through a troubled forest. Life experiences like losing both parents, divorce, travel, and general failure and success have brought Samuels to where he is now. He is not afraid to live freely and experiment. Honesty and rawness are flickers of light on each track, and put together, a bright beaming light strategically placed safely in the center of a dark room.
Breathe Track Listing
Away
Breathe
Closure in C
Distortion
Evermore
Feel
Genesis
Here
Inglenook
About Harp Samuels
Harp Samuels is a Melbourne, Australia born singer-songwriter. He has released two EPs, Getting There in 2013, and Colours of Waking in 2015. He then studied in California for a few years before releasing his debut album, Wanting, in 2017. His upcoming album is a testament to the spiritual, contemplative side of himself as a result of the loss of his father. It is also a completely new sound for Samuels, having moved away from his folk- driven past to a more ambient sound without a single guitar on the album. His debut album has over 200K streams on Spotify, and he has been featured on Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist. He also has been featured on MTV unplugged and a banner in Times Square.
Praise for Harp Samuels
"The sound is so rich, full, and engrossing that it's hard to believe that the music and the message is as straightforward as it is. But it is, and that's the secret to Samuels' artistry. He's a disciple of beauty in all its forms, and his records are arrows right to the heart of his fans." - Dopecausewesaid
"It's a tender and soft yet very powerful affair, one that forces the listener to slow down for a bit, give the song its space to unfold its beauty." —Nothing But Hope and Passion
"The start-stop arrangement of Harp Samuels' "Wanting" sounds like the distant fragility of Jeff Buckley's guitar work run through a latter-day Bon Iver-esque mood filter. Soul-inflected vocals, a la Moses Sumney, complete the arrangement." - Independent Clauses
"He is one of the most inspiring artists that I know; he is also a photographer and a true Renaissance man." -
Queen Beetch
"Sweet as summer fruit but underpinned by longing, they're redolent of stripped-down records by
Bon Iver and
Sigur Ros while imitating neither. These are statements of universal love and salves for emotional wounds. Harp Samuels is an angel on the shoulder of his listeners, purring words directly into their ears, and their minds. He engenders a feeling of intimacy and exclusivity: people who hear him tend to want to keep him like a secret. But his music belongs to the world." - Vents Magazine
