Harp – “Albion” | Progressive Rock Central.com

I have been a fan of Tim Smith’s vocals, since I first heard him sing on Midlake’s, 2010 album, The Courage of Others. To me, that album is a seminal album for the sound I thought would carry throughout this new century. Well, unfortunately I was wrong, and soon after that album Tim Smith parted ways with Midlake, and seemed to vanish from the music scene altogether. Until he added two wonderful songs to the great Bella Union project, Lost Horizons.

Well, now he has returned, with a new band, made up of only he and his wife, Kathi Zung. The new band is named Harp, and their new album; released in December, is titled, Albion. They are based out of Durham, North Carolina. They create the soft, melodic work I remember so well from The Courage of Others, and expand on that sound with influences from many sources, including The Cure’s Faith, album. From Tim Smith’s perspective, “The major album for me though was The Cure’s Faith, which I listened to non-stop for three years. That music really resonated with me, so I wanted to rethink my sound, which took a long time to figure out, because I was on my own, learning how to record better, mix better, write better.” Harp’s sound has evolved to sound more like: “medieval and renaissance periods, pastoral British landscapes, castles and cathedrals under grey skies, thatched roofs, and a good tankard of ale”.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ChessCandlesJul17LRcopy.jpg — Harp

So, let’s open the album and talk about how good it sounds:

The album opens with an instrumental song, titled, “The Pleasant Grey”, which is nearly a minute and a half soundscape, to prepare you for what is coming. Wonderful electric guitar, soft drumming and keyboards, with woodwind sounds, that relax and prepare you for the rest of the album.

“I Am the Seed”, is the real album starter. It kicks off the vision, and concept that Tim hoped to achieve with the album. Tim’s wife, Kathi Zung, plays flute, while Tim plays acoustic guitar at first, then switches to electric guitar. Tim sings, “I am the seed not the sower. I have given what I could. Placed in the warm dark earth. Where the light never reaches. A great many lands to roam. Land that was ours to use. But I live in silence. I am the seed”. An interesting perspective, that many of us have not thoughtfully pondered, I’m sure. Though interestingly, you can read some of these same insights from Peter Gabriel’s new album, as well.

Tim continues, “Out from the womb I was helpless. I would receive what I could. Even before I could walk. I rebelled fast against them. Nothing had I to fear. Only delight for years”. The electric guitar work from Tim sounds so much like the Cure’s Robert Smith and Simon Gallup, intermingling bass with lead guitar, so well. Smith maybe talks of his move away from Midlake and the entire, music “scene”, with these lines, “Now I live in silence. I am the seed. (again). Everything now lies fallow. Nothing gives what it once did. Plans that at one time I had. Have become only barren. I wait for the hand to deal. I wait for the rain to heal”. Possibly written shortly after he left Midlake, and experienced this isolation and alienation; that would eventually germinate into a new beginning.

“A Fountain”, actually has more of the uplifting sound of the Cure’s Wish album, than Faith. The wonderful guitar playing should take you back there, for sure. In fact, those guitar chords at 2:46 took me right back to the guitar in the song, “To Wish Impossible Things”. Tim sings, “Cross the clearing, devout, near the river I’ve known. Lives abidingly there all that’s left undone. In the darkness of May. I will leave with no one. There was a fountain that I was never to drink from. In the evening I ride through the fields unkind. Every favorable thought will be cursed and fall. Though the days were named mine. I had given them all. Surely, I knew in the end it only would be gone”.

He clearly enjoys painting a picture of his new home and the places he’s travelled since he left Midlake and Texas. Tim sings, “What possessed me and held me before. Are as nothing, a new love is born. And we walked ‘long the road bright and fed. In the morning the church bell he hears. Has no meaning but wished that it did. Full of longing but doesn’t know why. With the loneliest years behind me the world is right”. So all is well, now that he and his wife are free to make the beautiful music, that he so freely shares.

“Daughters of Albion”, opens with wonderful acoustic guitar. Like a song pulled off The Courage of Others; this song is one of my earliest favorites. Tim sings, “I do not understand this dark and empty age. With no way back and barely forward what became. Of all thy pleasures. Too much to measure. It’s always that way. Save the daughters of Albion”. You can interpret this song in a lot of ways, but many will take the road to William Blake’s poem, Visions of the Daughters of Albion. In that poem, Blake relates to the early promise of America being a land where freedoms and integration would allow for a different kind of world than had been created before. Although Blake reminded us all, that, America allowed for slavery on its shores. Tim sings, “The autumn sun that shines behind the wooded frame. Like everything that’s brought before me bright as flame. I know will vanish. It always manages. To fade away. The bright green fields lack for nothing. In splendor they stand. What is wrong with man? Save the daughters of Albion!” An over 3 minute return, to the presence and feel, of one of the greatest albums of all time.

“Chrystals”, is a little over a minute and a half song, that is full of wonderful awakening acoustic guitar, at its opening, with some of Tim’s most powerful vocals. Tim sings, as though, we are all back within, The Courage of Others. He sings, “I am not through, I’m immortal. Over all earth and all that breathes. Time won’t touch me. It answers to me. Woven from words of mine “to be”. Time unyielding for you, you mortal. See the sweetness that flees before you. Oh lonely child, oh man. You wanderer and friend. I did see you gather. The chrystals from the mountain”. The question I would pose, in query is, did the man climb the mountain for crystals or crystals of knowledge, that were left by someone almighty? An ancient man might have pursued wisdom, where a modern man would have probably have pursued financial gain. Or is the moral to the story, that Time is the master, and whether or not you gather those chrystals, of any type, you will never be able to take them with you beyond this world. You decide…

“Country Cathedral Drive”, returns some of the theme back to the “Daughters of Albion” discussion earlier. This is the longest track on the album. Tim sings, softly, to slowly plucked electric guitar chords, and orchestration, “Let the creatures whisper dawn no longer black. Pushing though the green lost in thought for love. Let the fields call out dawn no longer black. Valiant and true are the sons. But brighter the daughters of Albion. Let the rushing waters bright and gold be glad. Swallowed by the mountains struck by a favored hand. Everything goes on as it was, like it’s always been”. Is Tim envisioning a time around Eden, before the world was changed forever? Tim sings, “Grieving now has no measure, (Getting off the dust). Soul’s not taken engraved or buried in the sand, (From this miserable path and rake I am). Pleasure swings back and forth, (Pleasure is sweet though it does not stay). Love is constant, (Hold on, hold on you cannot go away). I am lost, I am lost golden birds of prey. So what if I am”. A wonderful reflective track that can be interpreted in many different ways. At times Tim seems satisfied, at others not so. As he sings, “pleasure does not stay”. But the many similarities in the themes and ideas discussed here, that I also hear from Peter Gabriel’s latest album, I/O Light and Dark, are numerous, and very interesting to consider.

“Shining Spires”, is another one of those songs that you can feel the rise and emotion in the sound of Tim’s voice that make you feel that this will be another song to remember eternally. Tim sings, “There are many of these lonely man, against the world, kind of songs on The Courage of Others. They are some of my favorites. Tim continues, “I’ll never learn. I fell wounded. Effortless by their hand. And all alone I am”. He continues, “How many years. I’ve not begun yet. Born afraid, earthly one. Shining spires, silver sun. With flowing tears I was pierced through. Wherever thou art, I’m going to. I found you there. I ran towards you. Splendid fawn, brighter than. Every sea and all the mountains. Wherever thou art is where I am”. Is this Tim’s love song for his wife, or someone or something immortal. Does he sing about his break with Midlake, or with the music industry, or the world of his past? We each have to reach our own conclusions.

“Silver Wings”, is another song about Tim losing hold of something. Maybe it is the break with Midlake, or maybe it is something much more significant. He did say he listened to the Cure’s album Faith, for over three years. Maybe, it was faith, that Tim has been singing about, and trying to restore. Through visions of natural environments and how they regenerate each spring, and decay in the fall. The natural cycle of life. Tim sings, to soft orchestration and acoustic guitar, “When the vow had finally broken. I set out alone. Sacred words that fell. Had seemed as strong as gold. And I laughed all alone with anger. I was done with the days. And the misery of night. I stood and I stared. Everything was alright. Certainly I longed. For something more to fill me. And though I had been wronged. I’d leave it all behind. Cause here I know is mine. Here I know is mine. I felt it begin. With a hundred new thoughts. And a vision again. Was it something or not? I wondered how long. I wandered on in my linе, and each remaining dawn. Might be both cruеl and kind. You might also like. But here I know is mine. Here I know is mine”. That line, that each dawn is cruel and kind, is important. Though each dawn may be beautiful, it is one less dawn that we all get to appreciate as time marches on.

Seven Long Suns”, almost has one of those beautiful guitar rounds, that I remember so well from the early music of Genesis. Then, beautiful flute enters the soundscape and nothing is the same. Tim sings, “No longer time for us. To revel in what we make. Leave now Godspeed and ride. Seven long suns I wait. Clever and bright is she. And worthy of more than I. Seven long suns will pass. I’m hers and she is mine”. A song about his wife on a seven day journey? Maybe. Tim, unfolds the story further, “I carry a flaming sword. I weave the fire on the field. Where are you, where are you, my dear. How long until you’re here? Only that I could see. Beneath distant clouds she rides. As quickly as any have dared. And truer than all I find. The winter may see her return. Should autumn bring nothing at all. Surely the spring bears good news. Where are you now. For seven long suns I wait”.

“Moon”, is a beautiful flute solo, with acoustic guitar accompaniment. Perfectly placed near the album’s closing.

“Throne of Amber”, opens with a faster beat, as Tim sings, with that wonderful Cure guitar drifting alongside. “In the early hours of dawn. Through the garden where the flowers hung. Where the favored ones are waited on. And the weaker ones are filled with song. Well I went mad, I was mad”. Gentle flute is added to make the entire soundscape that much more brilliant with its addition. Tim sings, as violin enters the soundscape, as well, “Surely there’s another way. You know I’ve searched forever. Now the years are only. Fleeting. Oh. Bring me an axe. Bring me a spade. Bring me a winding sheet. For my grave. And let thy winds. And the tempest beat. And I’ll lie down as cold as clay. Where’s the warm and piercing sun.
You know I can’t remember. Long before the violent sea. Surrounded me in misery.
I heard their voices something like wings”. This track, seems to be a tribute to a series of fantasy novels, Chronicles of Amber, written by Roger Zelazny.

“Herstmonceux”, is set to opening choirs of joyful revelry. The song seems to be a tribute to the town and castle at Herstmonceux. Where each year in the “Wealden District of East Sussex, England, a Medieval Festival is held annually in August”. Tim sings of it well, “In between my sorrow. While the earth just crumbles. What I want is truth. A benevolent tongue. What I want is desire. Anything to behold. Everything’s so cold”. A cool synthesized keyboard enters the soundscape before Tim returns to close the album, “In the dawn I saw you. Standing on for ages. And the world was right. In your ancient stare. Every part of your stone. Was a thundering voice. In the woods alone. Quietly the sorrow flees from me. Bright as day the soul no longer grieves. I am the seed, I wait, I wait for thee”. Definitely, Tim Smith has found his place and partner to live the rest of his life, fully and within the parameters he wishes for both. He is happy, though not everything is perfect. But he is telling us he is back…and most importantly…there will be more to come….

Harp’s Albion, is one of the best albums of the year by far. It came out of nowhere. I was not expecting it, but I am so happy it came. The timing was just about perfect, during the holiday season. It does bring joy to hear new music from Tim Smith, and in a similar nature to the music I enjoyed from his past. I am happy for Tim that he has found a partner to nurture his creativity and give him a reason to make more music. I look forward to the next album, as I have already played this album endlessly through the holiday season, and plan to continue, through the dark and cold winter ahead. I advise anyone who reads my reviews to please purchase this album, or at least give it a listen. You will be amazed and thankful you found Tim Smith’s music. Just like the many legions who already have and have patiently waited for this re-emergence.

Let Albion, be only the first, in a long line of albums, that Tim Smith, his wife Kathi Zung, and the beautiful surroundings of Durham, North Carolina and the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, inspire for the rest of their time!

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