Harkin previews new album with third outing "Here Again"

"Here Again" lands after earlier releases "A New Day" and "Body Clock", and features brass by Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Aaron Roche (Lower Dens, Sufjan Stevens, Anohni, Flock of Dimes).

Harkin said of the new single, ""Here Again" is a song about the timelessness and of love and loss. It's about the dance of raw vulnerability and galvanising strength that comes with both, how each are transcendent and everyday. Everyone seems to mention how time has worked differently the last few years, and for me that really crystallised in my experiences of love and loss."

"My grandad, who passed away years ago, wrote poetry and the line about dancing away references a poem he wrote about his own feelings on mortality," Harkin continued. "In some ways it feels like an ongoing conversation with him. It’s been hard over the last few years to feel like I’m remaining porous and open to life when there are so many reasons to want to shut it out. This song is a reminder to let it all in."

Honeymoon Suite will follow Harkin's 2020 self-titled debut solo album, and was written in the same room that Harkin and her wife ate meals in. Harkin and her wife also hosted their virtual wedding reception, and attended a funeral over Zoom from the same room. Harkin described the record in March as "a ship in a bottle of that time."

The new album also marks Harkin's first self-produced record, which came to fruition after she gained confidence making the soundtrack for Erēmīta (Anthologies). Harkin explained, "I’ve worked in all manner of studios and assumed many different roles in music making. I had thousands of flight hours but I had still never been the pilot. Owning the role of producer was more of a mental block than anything else, but circumstance dissolved that intimidation. Working on Ashley’s soundtrack early in the pandemic gave me the confidence to continue producing my own solo work. I won a grant from the PPL Momentum Accelerator Fund which would cover the mixing and mastering if I could be self-sufficient in recording. It felt like the quest I needed to push me into discovering this new direction."

She added, "For me, this album was a rabbit hole and escape hatch. It’s a very vulnerable record. There are no performances - I made it alone. Releasing it into the world feels like an extension of the solitary process and remote collaboration which created it. I hope it travels far and wide."