Chicago-based singer-songwriter Jeff Harms (www.JeffHarms.net) is set to independently release a new album of music via digital release.
Jeff Harms’ fifth release, Pretty Girls Don’t Just Talk to Me is an album of duets produced by Sam Wagster (Fruit Bats, Father Costume, Dahlgren). Various local singers lend their voices to ten simple tunes. Nora O’Connor, Rachel Ries, Dan Mohr, Gillian Lisee, Adam Vida and Ben Boye fill out the sound. In particular, O’Connor is known for her work with Andrew Bird and Chicago favorites The Flat Five.
An album release event – a low-fi presentation of tight harmonies and guest musicians – will take place on Wednesday, November 12, at 8:30 pm at The Hideout Chicago, 1354 W. Wabansia, Chicago, IL, www.hideoutchicago.com. Tickets are $5.
https://soundcloud.com/jeffharms/harms-jeff-f
Recorded in the autumn of 2013 on a small screened-in porch in Michigan, the project was awarded an Illinois Arts Council Grant. Supplemental funds were raised through a successful and humorous Kickstarter campaign with a video starring Harms, LeRoy Bach (formerly of Wilco) and Marty Lennartz that went viral (30,000 views). As part of this campaign, Harms wrote songs for hire that were compiled into an album of their own called: Jeff Harms 15 Songs.
Harms describes the record Pretty Girls Don’t Just Talk to Me as a series of simple love tunes, and a ‘Part Two’ to his last album, He Said She Said That’s What She Said. Each of the tracks was written with the idea to duet with local singers. Funny and terrifying topics range from a song about Harms’ mom and dad meeting on an airforce base in Wyoming, to struggling to write a proper love letter, to a song about the end of the world originally called “Underarmagedon”. All songs are written by Jeff Harms except for “Whatever” and “The Menace”, written by Jeff Harms and the late Brian Torrey Scott.
Harms is a multi-disciplined art maker and alum of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, known for his strong work in sculpture, film, music and performance. Harms is a former member of the performance group Every house has a door, formerly Goat Island.
Mix Tape Riot says of Harms, “The last few times I’ve seen him, I’ve been riveted by his songs… an ability to understate everything—lyrics, melody and instrumentation …(P)eople revere his songs. Some of the baddest musicians in Chicago, including Leroy Bach, formerly of Wilco, are all too happy to play with him in any situation.”
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