Harmony – Harmony

Harmony – Harmony (2011)

Produced by Tom Lyngcoln

Tom Lyngcoln - Vocals/Guitar

Alex Kastaniotis - Drums/Vocals

Jon Chapple - Bass

Amanda Roff - Vocals

Quinn Veldhuis - Vocals

Maria Kastaniotis – Vocals

Track listing:

01. Painter Blue (3:52)

02. Black Bobs (4:27)

03. Fourteen (6:21)

04. Grand Designs (4:55)

05. No Hope (4:02)

06. Ghost On Mainstreet (4:04)

07. Extinction Debt (4:51)

08. Cacophonous Vibes (4:27)

09. Heartache (4:23)

10. Miss The Sting (2:51)

11. Love In You Absence (5:04)

Released in 2011 “Harmony” is the Debut album by Australian band Harmony.  Harmony was formed by Nation Blue’s Tom Lyngcoln and his wife Alex Kastaniotis.  Tom began recorded the album at home and added Jon Chapple formerly of Mclusky and Shooting At Unarmed Men on bass and Vocalists Amanda Roff, Quinn Veldhuis & Maria Kastaniotis.  Band released the “Cacophonous Vibes”  7” single in early 2011 and this album later in the year.

The album begins with “Painter Blue” which sets the scene for the album.  The recordings are raw and very open.  It sounds as if they were recorded live in a room and at times things can get lost because of it.  The track is stripped back and sports a really strong chorus that reminded me of U2 for some reason.  Not sure why but there you go.

Next is “Black Bobs” which has a nice swampy southern blues feel to it.  The vocals work well together on this one and meld nicely.  Think the Drones with more vocalists.

“Fourteen” follows on.  This track has a nice tension and emotion to it with Tom’s vocal having hints of Nick Cave to it.  The ladies do a great job on their vocals on this track providing most of the backing to the track. 

“Grand Designs” picks the pace of the album up with some driving drums and nice guitar work.  The guitars are discordant and ringing along with a great vocal performance from Tom.

The gospel “ No Hope” follows on.  The track is very loose and open unfortunately the drums are quite rough in places.  The pace speeds up and slows through the track which gives it a lurching and almost jarring experience which is interesting.

“Ghost On Mainstreet” has a 70’s Cosmic Rock feel to it.  Kind of a mix between the Nation Blue and Gram Parsons.  The extremes of this band are used to effect on this track from screams and whispers.

That dichotomy continues on “Extinction Debt”.  This track builds and gets groovier as the song progresses.  Tom plays some nice slow picking in-between noise sections.  

The first single “Cacophonous Vibes” is the most immediate track on the album.  On my first listen of the album this was the only song that really grabbed me.  The vocals work extremely well on this song with the emotion and tension ramped up on this song.  It almost has a mid 70’s Pink Floyd feel to it, well only slightly.

The bluesy “Heartache” is next.  This track is an upbeat 70’s blues rocker with Tom shredding in places.  The drums again are a little rough on this track.  That said the song has a nice feel to it and the chorus is really cool.

“Miss The Sting” follows.  Musically this song doesn’t quite work for me.  I like the backing vocals but Tom’s vocals and the lead melody are a little weak.  That said I really like the breakdown in this song.

The album ends with the slow burning “Love In You Absence”.  The song slowly builds and does suffer a bit in the drum department.  The flourishes in the chorus are cool but the verses don’t do much for me.

This is an album that took me a few listens to get past the production and really give the songs a listen.  I’m glad I put the time into the album because it certainly delivers bar a few of the later songs dragging.  Put some time into it and I think you will enjoy the results.

7/10