Underneath the rain
Softly fall
Underneath the rain
We lost it all
For many of us, spring has already sprung; the days are reluctantly getting warmer and the nights are growing just a little more magical. To ring in the change of seasons, Brooklyn-based dream pop band The Harrow have just announced a new four-track EP. We’re honored to premiere the title track from the EP, the lush and driving “The Drowned World.”
“The Drowned World” is nearly five minutes of dreamy post-punk bliss. The track launches out of the gate with pristine energy, taking hold quickly with a propulsive six-string bass line, punchy rhythms, shimmering twin guitar work, warm synthesizers, and heavenly vocals. It twists and turns through ethereal spaces before opening into a glistening, potent chorus. Shades of early New Order, Sad Lovers & Giants, and The Wake can be heard throughout the song, which is as prescient as it is romantic, embracing a sense of longing in an otherwise ruined landscape.
The Drowned World serves as the sister EP to 2024’s Cinderglow, complementary in scope yet in delicate opposition. Across three additional tracks, The Harrow expand their horizons and embrace more organic sonic textures. Returning as producer is Xavier Paradis of Automelodi, who has worked with the band since 2014. The EP was mastered by Hillary Johnson at Kale Shelter Studios.
Guitarist Greg Fasolino, who wrote the lyrics for the track, offers a few words about the “The Drowned World”:
“The title started as a placeholder, but it stuck. It connected for me with the imagery of Debussy’s ‘The Sunken Cathedral,’ something beautiful and lost beneath the water. From there it grew into a kind of post-apocalyptic shoreline reverie, drawing on J.G. Ballard, La Jetée, and Jean Rollin’s recurring imagery of desolate beaches at Dieppe, where decaying structures dissolve into sand and water.
I imagined people on the strand, lamenting a lost world, surrounded by things that have slipped beneath the waves. It’s not meant to be overtly bleak so much as wistful, a sense of ennui and detachment in the face of impermanence. The world in this song has passed beyond human shaping; all we can do is sit and watch. There’s a kind of numbed nostalgia in it, which also mirrors the relationship in the song. I kept that deliberately ambiguous, but imagine two people huddled together, watching the tides, birds passing overhead…a seaside echo of The World, the Flesh and the Devil.
I like that the lyrics sit in contrast with the breezy, buoyant groove of the music, which John had composed much earlier, as it’s a juxtaposition you hear in a lot of beloved mid-’80s jangly post-punk, like The Smiths or Felt.”
The Drowned World EP will be released digitally on all major services on May 15th. Order a copy on Bandcamp here and listen to the title track below:
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Header photo by Chris Scalzi/Distilled Studio. Cover design by LeeAnn Falciani.
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