Sunday, August 6 • 11:00am • The Bowl
The Harmaleighs honestly craft poetic, passionate, and powerful songs cut from a pastiche of indie, folk, pop and Americana. In January 2015, The Harmaleighs—Haley Grant [lead vocals, guitar] and Kaylee Jasperson [bass, harmonies]—embarked on something of a modern odyssey in support of their independent full-length debut, Pretty Picture, Dirty Brush. This album received accolades from American Songwriter, Songwriter UK and Spotify featured “I Keep Ticking On” on its coveted Folk Pop playlist, amassing millions of streams and counting. In 2016 they hit the studio with producer Paul Moak [Mat Kearney, Caitlyn Smith] and recorded six songs for their EP Hiraeth.
“Hiraeth is a Welsh word that we stumbled upon while we were on tour,” says Kaylee. “It basically means, ‘Longing for a home.’ It’s a feeling of rootlessness and homesickness that we started to collectively feel around month six. By the end, we had burned out.”
The lead track from the EP is the ethereal “Birds Of A Feather”. “I wrote the song about a friend who was going through a tough time with a relationship ending,” says Haley. “She was explaining to me what exactly was happening and said ‘I’m just convenient for her.’ That specific sentence stuck in my head for a couple weeks and sparked the idea for the entire song.”
“Our last record was very folk-pop,” says Kaylee. “At that point, we were going through transitions and really trying to figure out what we wanted to be. When we finished that marathon tour and regrouped, we got the chance to decide who we are as a band. We wanted to utilize more electric instruments and go more indie pop with storytelling at the core. All of Paul’s productions are different. That was the allure of working with him. He helped us step up and define our style.” This new found sound built from the road has created a more enlivened bold sound that will resonate with their fans new and old alike.