Here at Electric Harmony Towers, it’s looking suspiciously like summer. Yes, it appears to have gotten here early... again, but what better excuse than to load up our playlists with music that is bursting with sunshine and summer feeling? Luckily for me then that this year the Harlots gain a place on said playlist.
Hailing from good old London town, the Harlots are a four piece band that very clearly state their influences from ‘anthemic guitar based bands’ such as Oasis and the Libertines, but that doesn’t quite do the band justice. There is a lot more on offer here than a cheap Oasis knock off.
At the time of writing, The Harlots only have a couple of tracks doing the rounds on the web, both available from their very awesome looking homepage, and both available as a free download, which I thoroughly recommend taking them up on. Great free music? Yes please!
The first of those tracks is Be Mine, a nice laid back foot tapper of a track that immediately reminded me of The Stone Roses for some reason. A very distinctive vocal dominates over guitar riffs and ostinatos that don’t quite move beyond a pattern, with a steady almost march like beat that creates a feeling almost of dreamy relentlessness; a metaphor for the lyric maybe?
It definitely has that summery feeling though, borne of the bands choice for straight forward functionality of song construction instead of over wrought complexity, which works in their favour. Another good example of this is in the guitar solo – a nice change of pace, but put together in a straight forward way that doesn’t go for flamboyancy which means it fits into the song perfectly.
Next up is Nowhere which is instantly more energetic and Oasis flavoured; as in the band, not the drink. But, much like the previous track, it’s elegance in its simplicity of construction. Here we have a bit more of a recognisable riff going on in the guitar than looping pattern, and a lot more of a bass groove which is always welcome. It is still the vocals that dominate though, packing a lot of punch and leading the way throughout the track. Possibly less summery than Be Mine, but that’s hardly a criticism, especially if you’re reading this in the winter!
While I personally find two tracks is a very difficult basis on which to get an accurate picture of a band, I have to say that both tracks are great. Both are well written, solid, functional and excellent at evoking a mellow state of mind. My only reservation is that with these two tracks there isn’t a massive amount of emotional range on display, I’d love to hear a Harlots track that is a bit more low key and intimate. However, that may just be down to the fact that they haven’t released a track like that into the web yet.
Regardless, I look forward to hearing more from these guys in the future.
The Harlots have a couple of gigs coming up this month and next in and around London, so if you’re in the area, you could do a lot worse than checking out the band and their great sound. Full details are available on their website.
Review by Paul Barnes
Check out The Harlots!
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