Harry Mitchell - Noon (2024) Hi-Res

This is a collection of songs broadly inspired by our collectively diminishing attention spans. Observing our phone and social media habits made me want to write something that couldn't be consumed quickly.

Ideally, this album should be listened to in one go. Of course, most songs make sense on their own, but I've pieced it together as more of a cohesive whole. For me, music is often an escape from technology invading every part of my life. Listening to an album or playing music is increasingly a chance for me not to be harassed by advertisers, be on my phone or be doom-scrolling.

If you're interested musically in what is going on..the palindrome songs are songs which contain melodies or harmonies that get played the same in reverse. There are single phrases that are played and then immediately flipped, or longer passages. When I'd finished writing all of the songs for this project, I took all of the key centres, and wrote a melody that weaves it's way through all the keys in the songs. In the first track, you hear Flora improvising on these changes in reverse. The tracks numbered 121, 131 etc. are fragments from that song. The final track is the actual song based on all of the key centres of the other songs. If you listen to the album in one go, I guess it should feel like a picture is being painted in front of you, finally becoming clear in the final track.

I am also aware of the irony of using social media to promote this...but..what's the alternative?

The musicians appearing on this album are:

Sax: Flora Carbo
Piano: Harry Mitchell
Guitar: Ben Witt
Bass: Karl Florisson
Drums: Ben Vanderwal

The contributions of these musicians can't be overstated and I would like to thank them as well as Josh Dyson, for their ideas, incredible musicianship and time while we made this recording.