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Harried

by Harry James

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Harried on plastic. CD's in slip cases. 50 copies each hand numbered and signed by Harry James.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Harried via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    1 remaining
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Limited DIY Test Press
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    ONE PER CUSTOMER. Multiple orders will be cancelled. Only 25 copies made. Numbered at the bottom. White label test presses hand stamped and numbered, with a paste on sticker cover. Sorry shipping is so high, I am only shipping these via priority mail, as I have had too many issues with media mail lately.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Harried via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Silver Paste On (BC Exclusive, 50 copies pressed)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    50 copies pressed with a silver chrome hued paste on photo cover, and 12x12 silver liner note insert. Manufactured by Schneider General in Allen, Texas. Every copy is hand stamped and assembled by hand with love from me and Eleazar.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Harried via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Gold Paste On (250 copies pressed)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    250 copies pressed with a rust hued photo paste on cover, and 12x12 white liner note insert. Manufactured with love by Schneider General in Allen, Texas. Every copy is hand stamped and assembled by hand with love from me and Eleazar.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Harried via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

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HARRIED 02:12
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Stutter 01:33
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Lily Pad 02:03
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Tiny Steps 02:10
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Elmore 02:11
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about

Just a year after the release of his solo debut, Harry James Brenner Jr. is back with his
sophomore effort, Harried. Blending elements of jazz, hip-hop,
ambient, and R&B, Brenner’s latest work is a natural progression of the style and themes
established on 2021’s Buy the Numbers, adding fresh dimension to his sound while affirming his
steadfast personal vision.

Harried bears the same core approach as its predecessor — succinct, self-recorded themes built
on overlaid lines and intricate rhythms — but its 14 tracks reflect a marked evolution in
Brenner’s craft and methods. Notably, the album finds his role shifting from sole performer to
arranger and collaborator: where Buy the Numbers saw Brenner handle all instrumentation
himself, Harried gathers contributions from a stellar cast of musicians drawn from Chicago’s
jazz and experimental scenes, including Keefe Jackson, Dave McDonnell, Gerald Bailey, Hope
Arthur, and Bill MacKay. This expanded palette brings new levels of texture and depth to
Brenner’s compositions, with his distinctive piano runs and percussive flourishes now in
dialogue with instruments ranging from flugelbone (“Royal Robes of Roe”) and saxophone
(“The Diminisher”) to thumb piano and hand drums (“Lily Pad”). At the same time, we hear
Brenner branching out in his own playing, layering deep synthesizer washes on the title track,
exploring polyrhythmic cycles on “Boogie Bored,” and forgoing percussion altogether on “Dear
Edgar Miller.” With nods to influences like Sun Ra, Mulatu Astatke, and Yesterday’s New
Quintet, the songs vary in their tempo and timbre but share an overarching sense of handmade
intimacy, the results at once evocative and forward-thinking, searching and deliberate, raw and
refined.

The album culminates with “Heart Strings,” a track co-penned twenty years prior by Brenner’s
friend and former bandmate Dan Jugle, who passed away in 2018. In many ways, the track is an
outlier: a note-for-note recreation of the song’s original bedroom demo, here we find Brenner
working within a conventional pop structure, augmenting his steady kit work with accordion
and acoustic guitar and, for the first time, contributing lead vocals. Part celebration, part
memorial, “Heart Strings” stands apart in its execution but ultimately dovetails in its effect,
deftly embodying the emotional themes that have driven Brenner’s solo work to date. Like his
debut, Harried is anchored in notions of remembrance, healing, and personal history; as
conveyed through both its title and sonic treatment, the record finds its author reflecting on
the passage of time, the burden of loss, and prospect of finding renewal in its wake. Using his
music to explore the porous boundary between the known past and future possibility, Brenner
invites his listeners to arrive at a similarly open and unbound state, coaxing subtle introspection
and spirited release in equal measure along the way.

-Christopher Schreck

credits

released December 2, 2022

Composed with:
Gerald Bailey (2, 11) Gerald Matthew Bailey (ASCAP)
Keefe Jackson (7, 9) Keefe Jackson (BMI)
David McDonnell (8) Invisible Library Music (ASCAP)
Heart Strings written by Dan Jugle (ASCAP) and John David Williams (ASCAP)

Performed By: Hope Arthur, Harry James Brenner Jr., Bill MacKay

Mixed and Mastered by Nick Broste

Special Thanks to the Center for Search and Research

Mine Joan Business (ASCAP)

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Harry James Chicago, Illinois

Harry James Brenner Jr is an American composer based in the south side of Chicago. His self recorded songs include acoustic piano & percussion, recorded using analog tools & techniques. His process is serious & deliberate reflected in his output both sonically & structurally. “A crate diggers dream” Harry’s works invoke a time seemingly gone,but yet to be experienced. ” ... more

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