An interview with
Harry, we love your songs.
Why do you like writing songs?
Harry
Harris
Singer-songwriter
Harry Harris talks about
songwriting, audiences, why
he thinks storms occupy such a
big place in stories, and what
keeps him writing songs about
other people
Thank you, I love your magazine.
I think because I love telling stories, and there’s something quite brilliant
about doing that with music, it can be really emotive and affecting. I love
music too, the exchange of it, the performance of it, when I write a song I
always consider how to play it live.
What’s your songwriting process like? Where and when
do you like to write?
Sporadic. I write in bursts. Usually one song will follow another and then
there’ll be a fallow period – it’s hard to predict. I always carry a notebook,
and I listen to a lot of different music – I’ve actively been listening to lots
of pop and country lately, to try and learn more about the form of a song –
bridges, choruses and stuff. I’ve been trying to be more direct in my lyrics
too, finding one great line and building a song around that.
You have a song about synaesthesia called Kandinsky Was a Synaesthete.
It’s happy and upbeat and fun to tap your foot along to or haul up a dancing partner. Why synaesthesia?
It started as a submission for you guys, then I kept writing it and selfishly
thought I might keep it for myself. It actually references a few of my other
songs, which is a trick I’ve stolen from bands like The Hold Steady, so it’s
the last song on the new album – it’s a sort of victory lap around the track,
and lots of fun to sing.
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