Astralwerks Beat: Ed Harcourt

Ed Harcourt’s “Born in the 70’s” is my generation’s “My Generation” aimed back at our parents’ “My Generation.” The advice Ed gets from his daddy is filled with the I’m OK, You’re OK platitudes, and the song sends it back saying we’re living “up against the older generation’s wall”—a generation which doesn’t seem to really care about Generation X.

Harcourt’s Strangers thrives on his smashing piano. It’s a Jazz-influenced Rock piano which carries many of the songs, but it hearkens back to rockabilly days when the piano could be just as rebellious, the days before the electric guitar became so overwhelmingly predominant.

In addition to his piano, Harcourt’s music stands out for its orchestration. Harcourt’s arrangements are like Rufus Wainwright’s. While not tending towards the vaudevillian sound of Wainwright, both Harcourt and Wainwright use whatever instruments are at hand in order to fully develop the entire songscape, creating a multi-layered, complex sound that’s like the inside of your heart which you’re contemplating from a chair inside your home while looking out a rain-streaked window hearing the cars pass on the wet street and watching people with umbrellas rush pass on the sidewalk while trying to imagine if they ever feel the same way in their hearts as you do.

The time it all comes together—jaunty and melancholic reflections—is on the title track. The lead guitar punctures the sky with bright psychedelic grace notes, the rhythm guitar bounces in jazz dance hall beat, and then the percussion—hand drumming on the drums, tambourine, and handclaps brings it right back down to that lonely apartment. While Harcourt goes many other places on Strangers, the immediate intimacy of “Strangers” is indeed the theme throughout the album.

Thank you to Ed Harcourt and Astralwerks for the review copy.