Harrison - Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees (2023) [Hi-Res]

When Harrison (Harrison Robinson) began working on his third album in his modest Toronto sudio in 2019, the producer and composer felt a strong desire to his artistic roots. “I knew I wanted to just make what I thought was cool, regardless of it being cheesy,” he says of the piano-centred compositions that would become Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees. “Chick Corea had a quote along the lines of ‘you have to find what sounds beautiful to you’ and that really stuck a chord with me.”

Like his previous two albums, Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees sees a handful of guests stepping into the producer’s technicoloured world, including Kadhja Bonet, TOBi, Nanna.B, MED and Guilty Simpson (their first reunion since J Dilla’s The Shining in 2006).

The album taps into themes of awakening from daydreaming, impacts of solitude, odes to younger selves, emerging from dark moments, honouring family members that have passed, carefreeness and more. The songs incorporate an array of instrumentation including Farfisa keys, breakbeats and a music box that was gifted to Harrison, as highlighted in the song of its namesake. Harrison drew inspiration from cartoons such as Looney Tunes and Gumball to Vince Guaraldi soundtracks.

Taken as a whole, Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees is an assured and joyful statement from a young artist evolving and finely honing his craft. Or as Robinson himself puts it, “It’s the music that I dreamed about making as a kid.”