Thank you, Harlem, for the joy of choosing the post for this picture. Both band and album names offer a wealth of opportunity, rich with associations and potential meaning. Perhaps apt for the band themselves - as with Girls and Sonny and the Sunsets, they are more than the sum of their influences (which are considerable). Harlem play melodic guitar rock which is warmer than the epithets of lo-fi, garage or scuzz would allow.
Sounding both timeless and original, Harlem stay the right side of derivative, and wear their influences proudly. It raises the question (as I found myself asking with Girls), what is it that makes this good, when so many other bands imbued with 60s and 70s resonances just come across as second-rate? I don't know; perhaps it's a case of right place, right time, perhaps there is a charisma there missing from other bands. Either way, it works.
Their 2nd album, Hippies, is out now on Matador.
Harlem -Friendly Ghost
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