New Jersey synth-rock duo Crozet make an epic return with "Harbor" [Premiere]

Though the boys have found a bigger sound—perhaps courtesy of a treasure trove of new equipment they’ve invested in—they’re staying true to their roots in the decade of decadence. Sweeping chords and synth sparkles are joined by a chugging beat and enough outsize flourishes to prove that what John Helmuth and Sean Lee have been cooking up is well worth the wait.

By the time an overdriven guitar surges in for a solo, the whole track drips with a sense of illicit late-night escape. Fire up the Countach. The road Crozet have laid out may be paved with a little more gold this time around, but the destination is the same: pure synth-smattered bliss.

John Helmuth had this to say about the track:

“This track is our first release since our previous single 'Hold My Weight', which was a while ago. The past few years we've been acquiring as many new pieces of gear as we can get our hands on. We've been taking our good old time paying attention to the production quality of the next album while we try to focus on a specific sound which is somewhat different than our previous album. It's been tough trying to teach ourselves how to use everything we've acquired while we also continue writing the next album. 'Harbor' is the first track that features all of the new gear we've been writing and recording with.

"The track features a Korg Polysix, Roland Juno 106, Korg DW8000, Yamaha DX21, a blend of both live drums that we recorded individually, and a mixture of a few different older drum machines all sampled from an Alesis HR-16 custom EPROM, and live guitars with an array of older pedals. We felt like we just wanted to release this sooner than later. The sound isn't unfamiliar than previous singles we've released, but we feel the production quality is way more refined and on pace with the quality of the next LP.

"The track itself is a little story about two teenagers secretly in love. The girl is in a relationship with your typical hunk, prick, Prom King that her parents absolutely adore, but she can't stand. The guy who she's actually in love with is the quiet, smart, slightly bullied, 1 or 2 close-friender type. He's a guy who's gone through high school without ever getting attention from the girls he's liked until now. She knows that her parents would never let her date this guy, and she can't break up with her hunk boyfriend because he's insane, so the only way for them to be with each other is if they find a place where they can be alone whenever they want. They sneak out one night, and drive and drive until they came across an abandoned shoreline house that becomes their safe house, or harbor, and they frequent this place as long as they can before anyone catches on. Do they get caught??? Maybe I can convince someone to make a music video for the track and I can work that into it. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hope everyone enjoys it!”