Photo: Marcus Maddox
RockShot Mag is proud to debut the video for Native Harrow’s brand new song Can’t Go On Like This.
The compelling track is taken from Native Harrow’s third album, Happier Now, which is released on 2nd August by Loose.
“The Can’t Go On Like This video is inspired by running away from life for a few hours and childhood,” Devin Tuel, the singer-songwriter behind Native Harrow, tells us exclusively.
“We wanted to capture a freedom that only bike riding in the sunshine can bring you,” she says of the clip she and her bandmate, multi-instrumentalist Stephen Harms, filmed themselves.
“The song touches on how we all tend to get bogged down in our day to day lives whether that be work, emotions, or stress and in those moments we often deal with it by fantasising about simpler times or what life could be like if we followed the dreams of our childhood,” continues the classically trained singer and former ballerina.
“In the video you see me heading out in the early morning to go on a ride, tossing a bouquet of flowers back to the earth, and standing in a warm sunlit river. I cruise through the woods on my bike, abandon it and start running, and finally find myself lost in dance.
“The video ends with me turning to look back signalling that these day dreams end and reality always comes back into focus.”
During her early 20s, that reality for Tuel was one of “playing every venue in Greenwich Village, recording demos in my friend’s kitchen, and making lattes”. But at the same time as she was living out her dreams of becoming the next Patti Smith, she was also “heartbroken, poor, and had no idea what I was getting myself into”.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
That time of setbacks, hardships, and, ultimately, tenacity has made its way onto the nine songs comprising Happier Now.
“I wanted to share that I made it out of my own thunderstorm,” says Tuel. “I had experienced the high peaks and very low valleys of my twenties. I saw more of the world on my own, got through challenges, reveled in true moments of triumph… but all the while the world around me was growing louder, wilder, and scarier. Music for me is a place to be soft. This album was my place to feel it all.”
Written during three North American tours in support of Native Harrow’s second album, Sorores, the new LP was recorded at Chicago’s Reliable Recorders by Alex Hall. Co-producers Hall, Tuel, and Harms embraced a “musicians’ workshop” approach to recording that captured the energy and spontaneity of three musicians playing live in a small room. There were no click tracks, scratch tracks, or even headphones – and within three days they were done, overdubs included.
Now, the astonishing results are on full display on the album Happier Now released on Loose Records
Photo: Brenna Tuel