Harrison is too hard on himself.
The 27-year-old Toronto producer and pianist has worked with a who's who of Canadian rap, including Cadence Weapon and DijahSB. The latter artist can't wait for Harrison to step out from behind the studio console.
"I'm excited for him to gain more attention, because he's one of those artists that definitely deserves to remain a musician their entire life," DijahSB tells Exclaim! via email, before describing Harrison as "great to work with because he has a true deep connection to music. He's inspired by a lot of the things I'm also inspired by, so it's easy for us to connect that way musically and mentally."
Hearing DijahSB's praise makes Harrison beam during a Zoom interview with Exclaim!, but that doesn't stop him from being playfully self-effacing. "They know I'm one of their biggest fans ever. So it's nice to hear that from Dijah. They're also on my ass all the time because I'm slow as hell," says Harrison, his gravelly voice breaking into a booming laugh about his ongoing collaborations with DijahSB.
His trademark modesty is even more apparent while describing the collaborations on his new album, Birds, Bees, the Clouds & the Trees (out April 28 on Last Gang Records / MNRK), which boasts an appearance from soaring Canadian MC TOBi (fresh off his win at this year's JUNOS), as well as a couple of Harrison's longtime rap heroes: California's M.E.D., as well as Guilty Simpson, a Detroit mainstay known for working with legendary producer Madlib.
Harrison made album highlight "Bump" live up to its name with springy beats cushioned by a fuzzy bassline that not only exemplifies funk, but also locks into a groove with rhymes from M.E.D. and Guilty Simpson. But he lays the credit at their feet, explaining they originally spat over an entirely different instrumental that Harrison "wrote all over again once I heard their verses. I felt like I could do something better."
When asked about working with TOBi on Birds, Bees single "Outta This World" — whose keys and percussion strut with swagger rivalling the rapper's flow, which is no small feat — Harrison doesn't hold back in his praise of his collaborator. "Anything I send TOBi can be a hit, I believe. He's going to be huge. I love him," Harrison says of TOBi, before recalling their prior collab, "Beige," the instrumental for which Harrison "sent TOBi, even though I thought it was dogshit. But once he was done I went, 'My God, you made this amazing!'"
While fans would be surprised to hear Harrison being so down on himself, his honesty is as refreshing as his funky, jazzy take on hip-hop and R&B. In the same way his jokes have a tossed off but self-deprecating edge, the tone of Birds, Bees isn't striving to be merely feel-good. There's an unpredictability and dark undercurrent to these initially light and bright songs that rewards closer listens, until it sounds less breezy than expected.
Case in point: opening track "Daydreamin," an instrumental that makes the most of its minute-long runtime with keys that dazzle like refracted sunbeams and percussion like gusts rustling leaves. Harrison's compelling candour becomes downright moving as he thinks back on how that song runs counter to its name: "It's almost supposed to sound erratic, but not. I started taking an antidepressant, which I'm now off. But I often just stare at fuckin' walls. Sometimes there'll be music playing in my head, or sometimes I'll think about nothing. So the song is supposed to be about the moment of coming back to reality."
Normalizing such mental health talk is important to Harrison, who recalls, "It was different even 10 years ago. Talking about this stuff was a bigger deal. Now we can just be casual about how we're feeling. And therapy. And healing. I think everyone's experienced this, after this big-ass pandemic and our economy exploding."
So these days he's okay with being vulnerable in interviews, and admitting he feels stage fright, even as his star-studded new album is poised to break through and his musical experimentations go viral on TikTok. Harrison has to be none other than himself, even if that means joking about insecurities. Or if it lends Birds, Bees a bright but audibly hard-earned optimism chafing with today's trends.
As he admits, "Honestly, I'd been so scared of making corny music for so long. But I gotta embrace the corn, bro. I'm tryin' to make popcorn. Corn on the cob. I'm okay with that now. So why not just do that? Because people can hear when you're not being genuine as an artist."
The 27-year-old Toronto producer and pianist has worked with a who's who of Canadian rap, including Cadence Weapon and DijahSB. The latter artist can't wait for Harrison to step out from behind the studio console.
"I'm excited for him to gain more attention, because he's one of those artists that definitely deserves to remain a musician their entire life," DijahSB tells Exclaim! via email, before describing Harrison as "great to work with because he has a true deep connection to music. He's inspired by a lot of the things I'm also inspired by, so it's easy for us to connect that way musically and mentally."
Hearing DijahSB's praise makes Harrison beam during a Zoom interview with Exclaim!, but that doesn't stop him from being playfully self-effacing. "They know I'm one of their biggest fans ever. So it's nice to hear that from Dijah. They're also on my ass all the time because I'm slow as hell," says Harrison, his gravelly voice breaking into a booming laugh about his ongoing collaborations with DijahSB.
His trademark modesty is even more apparent while describing the collaborations on his new album, Birds, Bees, the Clouds & the Trees (out April 28 on Last Gang Records / MNRK), which boasts an appearance from soaring Canadian MC TOBi (fresh off his win at this year's JUNOS), as well as a couple of Harrison's longtime rap heroes: California's M.E.D., as well as Guilty Simpson, a Detroit mainstay known for working with legendary producer Madlib.
Harrison made album highlight "Bump" live up to its name with springy beats cushioned by a fuzzy bassline that not only exemplifies funk, but also locks into a groove with rhymes from M.E.D. and Guilty Simpson. But he lays the credit at their feet, explaining they originally spat over an entirely different instrumental that Harrison "wrote all over again once I heard their verses. I felt like I could do something better."
When asked about working with TOBi on Birds, Bees single "Outta This World" — whose keys and percussion strut with swagger rivalling the rapper's flow, which is no small feat — Harrison doesn't hold back in his praise of his collaborator. "Anything I send TOBi can be a hit, I believe. He's going to be huge. I love him," Harrison says of TOBi, before recalling their prior collab, "Beige," the instrumental for which Harrison "sent TOBi, even though I thought it was dogshit. But once he was done I went, 'My God, you made this amazing!'"
While fans would be surprised to hear Harrison being so down on himself, his honesty is as refreshing as his funky, jazzy take on hip-hop and R&B. In the same way his jokes have a tossed off but self-deprecating edge, the tone of Birds, Bees isn't striving to be merely feel-good. There's an unpredictability and dark undercurrent to these initially light and bright songs that rewards closer listens, until it sounds less breezy than expected.
Case in point: opening track "Daydreamin," an instrumental that makes the most of its minute-long runtime with keys that dazzle like refracted sunbeams and percussion like gusts rustling leaves. Harrison's compelling candour becomes downright moving as he thinks back on how that song runs counter to its name: "It's almost supposed to sound erratic, but not. I started taking an antidepressant, which I'm now off. But I often just stare at fuckin' walls. Sometimes there'll be music playing in my head, or sometimes I'll think about nothing. So the song is supposed to be about the moment of coming back to reality."
Normalizing such mental health talk is important to Harrison, who recalls, "It was different even 10 years ago. Talking about this stuff was a bigger deal. Now we can just be casual about how we're feeling. And therapy. And healing. I think everyone's experienced this, after this big-ass pandemic and our economy exploding."
So these days he's okay with being vulnerable in interviews, and admitting he feels stage fright, even as his star-studded new album is poised to break through and his musical experimentations go viral on TikTok. Harrison has to be none other than himself, even if that means joking about insecurities. Or if it lends Birds, Bees a bright but audibly hard-earned optimism chafing with today's trends.
As he admits, "Honestly, I'd been so scared of making corny music for so long. But I gotta embrace the corn, bro. I'm tryin' to make popcorn. Corn on the cob. I'm okay with that now. So why not just do that? Because people can hear when you're not being genuine as an artist."
