Exclusive album premiere of ‘The River of Doom,’ by Hieronymus Harry, out November 11th, 2022.

Hieronymus Harry’s debut album invokes a time, place, and feeling that is strikingly different from our present moment. Harkening back to the late 1960s when artists like Skip Spence, Pentangle, and the Incredible String Band conjured madcap, mystical worlds, The River of Doom captures naturalistic performances on acoustic instruments to create a spellbinding collection of surrealist folk songs. Co-produced by Patrick Lefler (ROY) and mastered by Jeff McMurrich (U.S. Girls, Jennifer Castle, Constantines) the album features Harry’s haunting falsetto accompanied by airy harmonies from Sophia Ruby Katz (Shirley Hurt) and the courtly strings of cellist Eliza Niemi.

Until now, Harry has made his bones as a collaborator, performing with acclaimed Toronto acts such as Mr. Joy, Matthew “Doc” Dunn, ROY, Carl Didur and more. Each of these projects have expanded his musical palette, but none scratched the itch of jesterly whimsy that informed his solo songwriting as Hieronymus Harry. The lengthy, meticulous process of assembling Mr. Joy’s densely layered albums inspired an opposite approach for The River of Doom, as Harry recorded its songs live, fast, and loose with double bassist Matt Coldwell and Lefler on 12-string guitar.

<a href="https://hieronymusharry.bandcamp.com/album/the-river-of-doom">The River of Doom by Hieronymus Harry</a>

“The greatest thing we can offer is an expression of our truest self”

Is there a certain concept behind it?

Yes, there is! There’s an idea at the heart of the album that the greatest thing we can offer is an expression of our truest self. In my music, that meant exploring my present and where I was at as a songwriter, musician, poet, vocalist, et cetera, and to come at it from a place where I was already enough and for that spirit to shine through. It became a testament to doing, to acting against doubt and embracing the present self wholly.

This translated into me capturing my own naiveties and spontaneous reactions between myself and other musicians. It meant embracing weirdness and idiosyncrasies in a raw, unfiltered way. Performances were kept honest, with evidence of humanness acting as the compass towards good. I wanted it to feel explorative and vulnerable, kind of broken, but pure of heart!

I saw ‘The River of Doom’ as this eternal stream of uncontrollable experiences and the making of the record as a journey towards finding peace with it all. The concept came around a somewhat tumultuous time in my life as I was newly coming to ancient spiritual philosophies and practices that felt exciting and revelatory to me. Ideas about how my desires and attachments were compromising my ability to love the present can be found throughout the music. Overall, ‘The River of Doom’ is like a meandering tapestry, weaving through these various thoughts and feelings.

How long did you work on your album?

The album was made over a three-year period between 2019-2022. As I sought to write and record my album about accepting the present, the world continued to provide me with chaotic happenings to work through. Alongside the pandemic, 2020 served me a renoviction, a breakup, and the uprooting of my life in Toronto as I spent six months nomadic in an RV out West. Recording was further delayed by a crashed hard drive which took months to recover. The bulk of the recording happened in 2021 during weekend stints at Patrick Lefler’s Toronto home studio once I had returned to Ontario.

Patrick (ROY) played a huge role in the making of the album through offering his space, musicianship, recording/mixing prowess and friendship. He understood the ethos of the album from the beginning and helped ensure we stayed committed to the present through my moments of uncertainty.

As for the recording process, we kept things analog through every stage, save for the computer at the center—a necessary aspect of modernity, which we used sparingly. Acoustic instruments were used exclusively with a handful of analog FXs employed for good measure. The record leans quite dry in terms of FX use. The point was to lay bare live acoustic performances and pure vocals and have the dynamic nature of those elements be what gave the recording its psychedelic qualities. We mixed the album through a mixing console with Pat at the helm, which once again, meant commitment to present (tweaking a mix after printing would require a fresh pass). The album was completed after visiting Jeff McMurrich for mastering in spring of 2022, at which point I set out to plan the release.

Would you like to speak about the songs itself and what influenced particular tracks?

Some songs explore naivety in life and love while others lament and search for the silver thread through chaotic events out of our hands. Some moments reflect destruction, while others are about finding joy and light through it all!

Like ‘Colour of the Mirror’… that song came about after a breakup as I reflected on new parts of my character that appeared during the relationship—what was genuinely me and what was a reflection of them? The song came from a moment of deep sadness and helped me burst into a state of contentment and optimism. I found sonic influence in solar songs like The RFD’s ‘It Seems’ and Archie Fisher’s ‘Witch of the West-Mer-Lands.’ It was/is music to alchemize a feeling into something new.

How do you usually approach songwriting and what was different this time?

I guess it often starts from a moment of connection, with a feeling, experience, words… Sometimes I’ll have a bit of a composition written on guitar, and when I unite it with some lyrics, a whole song may appear rather quickly. Songs like ‘Marsh of Love’ and ‘Radiant Planet’ happened this way. Others like ‘Chariot’s Ear’ floated in the ether for years before I had the right words to accompany the composition. A few of the songs had some alternate verses I was using for a bit, but the ones I landed on are mostly the true-to-the-moment lines. It might sound like I’m a real “first idea, best idea” sort of person, but my mind often says otherwise, and a big part of making this album was about connecting with a more intuitive way of being.

Something new that informed the songwriting this time was arriving at feelings about God and spirit that felt good and transformative for me. The music speaks to ideas I was arriving at that were becoming a source of healing!

After my 2019 EP ‘Day of the Moon,’ I wanted to follow a path towards a more decidedly medieval-inspired sound, á la Pentangle, The Incredible String Band, Mark Fry, et cetera. I’ve always enjoyed medieval fantasy and mystical, alchemical ideas have been impacting me for a while. I love invoking these worlds musically, and traveling there with other musicians has been a great joy of the project. The sound continues to evolve through new music I’m writing. The future will be fresh!

Are you planning to play some shows?

The album will be performed in its entirety at my album release show on November 12th at the Cecil Community Centre in Toronto. I’ve gathered as many musicians from the album as I could muster. It will be the most true live representation of the album I imagine I’ll ever be able to offer and am so excited to share in the full journey through ‘The River of Doom’ with my band and an audience. Then on the 18th, I’ll be performing at the Tranzac in Toronto by myself, alongside the band Lavender Bruisers. I’ll be playing mainly new material and covers. This album feels to me like it’s been a long time coming and I’m looking forward to turning the page towards something new!

Klemen Breznikar

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Ideé Fixe Records Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube