‘TIME’ by The Harlequins | Album Premiere | Interview
Exclusive album premiere of ‘TIME’ by The Harlequins, out September 2nd via Dizzybird Records.
The Harlequins’ aptly named new record, ‘TIME’—their eighth full-length (and first since 2016’s acclaimed ‘One With You’)—is a diligently honed yet effortlessly flowing sonic journey recorded across the span of five years. “There are so many time puns I’m trying to hold back”, wisecracks Oliva, reflecting on the meandering odyssey of a recording process. “Normally you hit the studio, track it, mix it and wrap it up as fast as possible. But spending so long on this record, and having it be an ongoing project—things were wide open, so our approach evolved over time. How we mixed it initially isn’t how we ended up mixing it, which is different than how I’d mix it now. Things are always in flux—really, you’re trying to capture lightning in a bottle.
And that’s exactly what The Harlequins have done with ‘TIME’. Listening, you can envision the record sprouting from a single seed, green shoots bolting skyward in time lapse, a vibrant bouquet of flowers blossoming brilliantly, then wilting and drying up, their crumbling petals scattered on the breeze. The process repeats in reverse, and then forward again in an infinite loop, time slipping back and forth against the blackness of space to a soundtrack of shimmering tremolo guitars, spring-loaded bass and frenetic drums, all shot through with quivering acid-drenched harmonies. Though for once, The Harlequins’ psychedelia has ventured outside the echo chamber, the typically sopping-wet reverb wrung out enough that the sound reflects the clarity of the comedown more than the chaos of the trip’s peak.
“It’s one of the more eclectic albums we’ve done in a while”, Oliva says. “And it’s a little drier, cleaner and more experimental on the audiophile side. While it still has a live feel the way our older stuff does, there are a few songs that are a bit more ambitious, production-wise. We had fun pulling some studio tricks, and definitely went a little extra in that realm”.
When the band started recording ‘TIME’ in earnest back in 2017—alternating between tracking at their high-ceilinged warehouse rehearsal space and overdubs at Oliva’s Cincinnati apartment—there was no real agenda. But in the end, more by default than intention, it became The Harlequins’ most political work to date, their introspective psychedelia peppered with scathing musical diatribes like ‘The Cheater’, ‘The Tower’ and ‘Sound of the Creeps’. “It’s been a crazy, intense five years”, Oliva says. “It was bound to inspire us to write some songs. How could it not? And a lot of those songs are very tangibly of the times”.
‘The Cheater’ was written during the 2016 U.S. election that ultimately led to Donald Trump’s presidency. This also came in the wake of the first round of the Russo-Ukrainian war (back in 2014-2015); Oliva’s wife being from Ukraine, the state of global affairs was front-and-center on his mind. “‘The Cheater’ isn’t about one particular person”, he explains, “but the rise of all these bad dudes getting away with terrible shit—all these dictators coming to power. ‘Sound of the Creeps’ is like that, too. You can feel the rise of autocracy and fascism thick in the air”.
While ‘TIME’ is unafraid to hold a mirror up to the darkness, it radiates plenty of light as well. ‘Without You’ is a blistering, 180-bpm meditation on valiantly sticking it out through a long-distance relationship, and ‘Hold Your Tongue’ a carpe-diem garage anthem extolling the virtues of honesty, authenticity and speaking your mind instead of holding back. With its churning locomotive rhythm, ‘Return Home’ is a head-bobbing traveling song written on the heels of a European tour, while ‘TIME’s’ breezy, introspective title track has the feel of Syd Barrett on holiday at some tropical beach.
As The Harlequins celebrate their 15th anniversary—the last five of those years spent working through countless obstacles and uncertainties to finally, satisfyingly arrive at the release of this new record—they seem refreshingly clear-headed and devoid of nostalgia. “If there’s anything we take from this experience”, Oliva says, “it’s perseverance. You know—just doing the damn thing. Sticking with something if you love it. And it’s the same with the band—we plan to never stop, to keep going, keep moving forward and finding new ways to reinvent ourselves”.
“This record is our most diverse”
How long did you work on the album?
Robert Stamler (drums): Recording for ‘TIME’ started in 2016 and finished in 2020. Due to our schedules, we tried to record a couple songs at a time in our rehearsal space instead of doing the whole album at once. Recording in the warehouse we use is a little tricky after 5pm, so we blocked off weekdays from 9-5 to make sure there weren’t any interruptions. We recorded our last album in the same spot, so we knew our way around utilizing a shared space.
We also had a lot of personal things going on at the time that made the recording process more difficult. For instance, our bass player Alex [Stenard] had a child and manages a restaurant when he’s not playing so that added some availability challenges. But we chipped away at our song list, and eventually had everything recorded and ready to release in 2020… but COVID.
Michael Oliva (guitar, lead vocals): Yeah, we recorded ‘TIME’ off and on for about 3 years because of our busy touring schedule, setbacks and life changes. And when we were finally gearing up for mastering and album art, that’s when Covid happened, delaying the album another two years. We worked very hard on it so we wanted to take our time and release it properly. We’re very lucky and honored to work with Nicole LaRae of Dizzybird Records once again to release it.
I’ve recorded our music since 2016’s ‘One with You’, and where that album was a culmination of years of sonic exploration with reverb, analog delay and trying to capture our raw “live” walls of sound, this new album has a more mature, refined, warm and enveloping sound. The hard edges are softened—it’s like a vacation for your ears. There’s a lot of fun experimentation with mono and stereo imaging within the same songs, with vocal doubles and harmonies, synthesizers and samples. Many layers were added after the main skeletons were tracked.
I’m a big fan of using minimal microphones and capturing the skeleton of a song first with rhythm guitar and drums. We pretty much did everything on ‘One with You’ and ‘TIME’ this way. We track the rhythm and drums live in our practice space, and then I overdub everything else after the fact. I’m a big fan of using dynamic mics and getting the flattest, most malleable sounds possible. On this album, the main goal sonically was to create a dry, intimate and inviting atmosphere that surprises you when you least expect it.
Would you say there’s a certain concept behind the new album?
Robert Stamler: The crazy way that time works. It fluctuates based on the experience of the person. This album took more time to record than any of our others. Another point is a criticism / perspective on the world going into a political and social decline that became more obvious as certain people came to power and social factions made their voices apparent with misogyny, racism and blatant negativity.
Michael Oliva: My only goal was to make a fun, quality record. I never planned for any theme, or concept to represent the album. I generally don’t operate that way, I just try to make solid songs that stand alone yet flow nicely into each other so it can be enjoyed as one whole piece of art, but not only in that context.
We chose ‘TIME’ to be the title track because we gravitated toward its pop nature as a great single, we liked a short one word title, and we thought it was vague enough to not necessarily have any particularly harsh stance or message. So the album started out as a collection of songs. Then we noticed that a lot of the lyrics talk about time in different contexts, and that the concept of time is all over the album. We also were thinking and reflecting about how much time was put into this project versus any other we’d worked on, and that the album would drop on what would be the band’s 15th anniversary, and we were completely sold. It felt like the album title had chosen itself and if there was to be a theme, it manifested itself through us.
Tell us about the tracks featured on the album.
Michael Oliva: ‘Return Home’ was the first song I wrote when I got home from traveling Europe and Ukraine by train with my wife for 5 weeks. We walked into our apartment, I picked up my acoustic—which is what I use to write most of our songs—and hammered out this clunky, locomotive rhythm. I really fell in love with traveling by trains after that trip.
‘The Tower’ is about the divide and disconnect between those who make the laws and call the shots and those who suffer the consequence of their greed. It’s about mass shootings, climate change and political Violence.
‘TIME’ is about feeling the years go by and being equally regretful that you didn’t make the best use of your time, but at the same time feeling hopeful and optimistic to always make the most of the time you still have. We only have the now.
‘Sound of the Creeps’ is about the rising police state around the world and the silent majority’s uncomfortable conformity to it.
‘Daydream’ is a deep cut about the lethargy of the day-to-day grind when you lose yourself in work that is not for you, not nourishing you. It’s about a lifestyle that’s preventing your true self from shining. It’s a song about feeling detached, alienated and exhausted, but then getting a second wind and realizing you can take control of your life and strive to be better. It’s a surrealist dream pop song that could spiral into a nightmare but instead leaves you with an uplifting and inspiring message—that it’s not too late to grow, to take care of yourself, and to become whole.
‘Down’—the album’s closer—is another song about being down in a hole, and trying to find a way out and only achieving it through, once again, finding strength in yourself and your chosen family. Now that I’m writing all of this, I notice that this record also gets into themes of self improvement and second chances.
‘TIME’ is your eighth album—how would you compare it to your previous releases and, on that note, could you share a few words about each of the albums? Maybe a sentence or two that runs through your mind when thinking of it?
Robert Stamler: This record is our most diverse. The broken-up nature of the recording process gave way to different sonic pathways that shaped the holistic nature of ‘TIME’. We also wanted to stray a little bit from our previous sounds and have a few tracks where the vocals weren’t totally soaked in reverb, or where we didn’t use the same guitar effects we’d used before. This record has a great variety—from acoustic to heavy—but it still retains our general sound that we’ve created over the years.
‘Baron Von Headless’ (2009) was our first proper album. It was recorded in an old church with our friend Ben Cochran for Grasshopper Juice Records.
When we recorded our EP ‘Midwest Coast’ (2011), I was knee deep in school and we had a sweet practice space in my college house where we wrote the title track.
The Harlequins (2012) was recorded with our friend Aaron at The Mockbee, an old brewery building where I had an apartment. The Mockbee was and still is an event space that has art shows, music and other related happenings. We used the massive tunnels inside the building for guitar reverb.
‘Sex Change’ (2013) was an EP that delved into harder psych-rock territory. This is one of my personal favorite Harlequins releases.
‘Bee Sides Vol. 1’ (2013) was released the same day as ‘Sex Change’. This is a collection of demos and ideas we’d recorded over the years. We have hours upon hours of improvisations and songs we’ve recorded at the space. We tend to warm up at rehearsal by jamming, and we wanted something to showcase our ability to improvise. Volume two is coming soon.
‘LIVE’ (2014) showcases how we sound on stage. Most of our recordings are done live in the studio but we wanted to showcase how fast and heavy we can turn our recordings in a live setting. There are a couple bonus tracks that have never been released on it, too.
‘One with You’ (2016) was our first record ever put to vinyl by a label. Dizzybird Records really helped us push this album and we are still working with them today.
Do you have any plans for touring?
Robert Stamler: We are doing some regional dates for the album and will be looking for some Coastal dates next year. Europe would be cool.
Michael Oliva: We played and toured nonstop for 13 years straight—unrelenting, with no breaks until Covid finally forced us to take our first break ever. Since then, we’ve altered our personal and work lives and touring plans. We’re coming back to it slowly, but definitely plan to get back out there. We have several smaller weekends booked, and more planned but we’re trying to focus on more dates in the New Year.
Do either of you have any side projects?
Robert Stamler: I play percussion in an afrobeat / funk band called Ernie Johnson From Detroit, as well as others that haven’t played out yet. Expect some things by year’s end / next year.
Michael Oliva: During the pandemic I started a new artistic career venture in film composition. Until 2020, I had never thought of making music for film, besides potentially licensing The Harlequins’ music. Then I discovered orchestral sample libraries, dove deep into that world, and have since fallen in love. Everything about it—I love the workflow, I love working remotely, I love scoring a picture and helping tell the story with music and also just matching the music to the movements. It’s a skillset I didn’t know I had. I’ve been writing a piece of music nearly every day since 2020, and I’ve been experimenting with writing in many genres, from classical symphonic, chamber and string-quartet music to epic, cinematic film and trailer music, electronic, atonal, experimental and horror music. In the past year and a half, I’ve scored two short films, an ambient horror audio-visual novel, I recorded audio for a documentary and did post production work on it as well, I recorded and mastered albums for two local Cincinnati artists—Moan, who have since reformed as Pretty Mean, and Sea Dax, And I’ve been mixing and mastering orchestral compositions for composers I’ve met online who prefer to use my ear on their work. It’s been exciting, overstimulating, fulfilling and frightening all at the same time and it’s been amazing.
What else occupies your life lately?
Robert Stamler: I’ve been a bicycle courier for six years and do that after my day job. I really enjoy being active and exercising. I pretty much play music, exercise and work everyday.
Michael Oliva: Unfortunately, less than a week after I placed the order with the record pressing plant and got the ball rolling on ‘TIME’, Russia invaded Ukraine and my life was forever changed. My wife is from Ukraine. We have friends and family there. Every day starts, is filled with, and ends with the news, and conversations and check ups with our people there. I’ve been throwing all my energy since February to raise awareness about the war to help our people there, and I’ve been throwing myself into work composing and mixing to keep myself sane. I actually wrote an entire symphony about the war in Ukraine, via midi. It’s 44 minutes long, has four movements and I’m extremely proud of it and baffled I did it. I have never studied classical, but I’ve always loved it, and I felt it was the only medium to express the emotions I have for the beautiful people of Ukraine.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Robert Stamler: My favorite albums are ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ by Refused, ‘Last Night in Town’ by Every Time I Die, ‘Toxic Planet’ by Cobra Man, most everything by King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, ‘Brain Telephone’ by Frankie and the Witch Fingers, ‘Live with Ginger Baker’ by Fela Kuti. And ‘Ganglion Reef’ by Wand.
Michael Oliva: Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon have been making some of my favorite albums of the past few years. Tim Presley’s ‘I Have to Feed Larry’s Hawk’, and Le Bon’s ‘Reward’ are always close by. I’m a huge fan of their side project, Drinks, as well.
I very much appreciate any artist who can age with grace, and can accurately and honestly sum up their life experiences and turn them into a piece of art that is pure and properly represents who they are in the moment. Tim Presley and Cate Le Bon have been killing it in that regard—never afraid to reinvent themselves, and always without losing what makes their art rad in the first place.
Artists like Mark E. Smith of The Fall was a master at that, and my biggest influence in that regard. As well as Bowie. Versus artists who dress the same in their 50s as they did in their teens and get stuck in a mindset, stuck in a point in time, both philosophically and emotionally. Speaking of The Fall, check out the album Grotesque if you’ve never indulged. On the opposite side of things, since I’ve been composing I’ve been listening to a lot of film scores and symphonic work. Here are this past year’s highlights and some recent finds on vinyl that I’d recommend for any music lover: Angelo Badalamenti’s score for Mulholland Drive, as well as a live album of his themes from different movies performed by a live orchestra. Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony Eroica, Superman the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by John Williams, Mozart’s Serenade for Winds, and Ben Frost’s work, in particular his theme for ‘Raised by Wolves’.
Thank you. Last word is yours.
Robert Stamler: Make art with your friends and don’t be a dick.
Michael Oliva: Ukraine is a free and sovereign nation. Thank you for your time.
Klemen Breznikar
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