So yesterday, on kind of a whim, I went down to Resident Records to see Kid Harpoon. Kid Harpoon has been on my radar for a long time, I have quite a few of his old acoustic demos but this year he’s really emerged as an artist to watch, showcased by one of his first singles ‘Chasing Cars’. Of course, Harpoon has been around for a while, and I’m not really sure if he still plays with a backing band, although I’m inclined to say yes just due to the complexity of his recordings. However, we were treated to a rather wonderful little performance by just Kid Harpoon and his guitar.
First off, Resident Records is small as shit. Like, I didn’t understand or know if they were going to have the in-store actually IN the store. So we went in and browsed around for a minute and then the cutest little thing, Kid Harpoon himself, with his acoustic strapped on walks to the front of the shop, and stood in front of the two rows of CDs they have (yeah, for anyone whose been to Amoeba, Resident records is two rows the long way) and just started playing. His first tune was ‘Burnt Down House’ which was a really sweet little number, if such a thing can be said about a song recounting the night a house burnt down. But it really showcased his voice, which if anything is a little effeminate, but hey, I am in England now and should get used to such things, eh?
The song that really, really made me a big Kid Harpoon fan (well, looking back I can say that, even though it was yesterday) was one called ‘Colours’ which did make it onto his debut album, entitled ‘Once’. Kid Harpoon, although I don’t know if he normally performs with a band, is a singer-songwriter. And there’s nothing I hate more than an overblown, pompous, echoing, vocal-centric singer songwriter. Thankfully, Kid Harpoon is none of those things. He prefaced ‘Colours’ by saying that he met up with a mate in a pub (again, in England now) and his mate was talking about a colour that he saw in his mind but never found in actual life and couldn’t really describe it. Okay, so his mate was probably on acid, but the song is delightful. It’s witty and clever and best of all, it showcases the fact that Kid Harpoon can fucking play guitar. What takes his possibly mundane songs to be listenable and actually likable is his guitar playing. He has a sense of melody about him, obviously, but he really does not inventive things persay, but actually unexpected things and it makes a song that might make me bop my head for 3 minutes and never listen to it again and makes it into something that I can’t fucking wait to hear again.
Although Harpoon only played 5 songs, and to only about 20 people max, he took some time before every song and just say what inspired it or what it was about or just something about the song. I’m sure none of you remember but one of the greatest gigs of my life was a The Blow gig at SXSW where not only was there fantastic music played, but Khaela talked about the songs and her process and what led to them, and it was amazing/blew my mind. So I really appreciated that Harpoon took the time to make what would be a simple instore to a sad amount of people (he certainly deserves more) into something that was really fun and special and turned me and Rachel and Alison into Kid Harpoon fans, and actually is what made me find a computer (we have no internet in the flat) and sit down and write this about him, hoping to turn more people onto his music.
I haven’t given the album, ‘Once’, a big enough listen to give it a proper review, but rest assured, I will. The few that I’ve heard, including ‘Colours’, were great acoustically, but on the album Harpoon adds strings and the production really makes it into something wonderful. I honestly, wholeheartedly, absolutely recommend everyone checking out the soon to be famous (yesterday he cruised around the laines and got nary a second glance) Kid Harpoon.
Tags: kid harpoon
