Feel The Resonance Of Harmony

Melbourne-based sextet Harmony boast one of the most unique sounds in Australian music. On the one hand you’ve got your depraved, post-punk shenanigans, while on the other you’ve got serene female vocal harmonies. On paper these elements would fight against each other, yet in Harmony they come together in awe-inspiring cohesiveness.

Forming in 2010, frontman Tom Lyngcoln reflects on how this concept originally came together. “I’d always ignored vocals, and I really only started singing because nobody else would do it. Having the girls come on board meant that I could rein in the heinous ego that’s associated with singing – there’s a whole series of psychological issues that are gifted to singers. But I basically got to a point where I just thought, ‘Why not go completely the opposite way and focus really heavily on the voice?’, and the girls really helped give it its due. I was also pretty obsessed with vocal groups and barber shop [ensembles]. When voices sync up and people do things correctly I think it does something to the brain – it’s like dope – it triggers a chemical reaction in the brain and that’s what I wanted to achieve with Harmony – to send chills up people’s spines.”

"When voices sync up and people do things correctly I think it does something to the brain – it’s like dope"

One of the first things you’ll notice about a Harmony record is its completely unabashed raw nature. “I don’t think I’m capable of writing positive, happy songs. I reserve that for my day-to-day interactions instead and try to be nice to people, so when it’s comes time to write I can empty the bowels and bend the spleen a bit. But at some point I think I need to change my tactic because it is stressful on the soul to be constantly singing from the gutter – it’s not much fun. I took six months off a few years ago because I just couldn’t sing the words anymore, it just didn’t ring true. It’s a hard band to sing for and if you’re not investing pretty heavily in it, people can tell. Saying it sounds fucking ridiculous, but you really can’t half-arse it, you have to do it properly.”

Harmony are currently in the midst of their second run of shows promoting second album, Carpetbombing. “I think it’s probably one of the best things I’ve done. It’s something I wrote, recorded and mixed myself, and as far as a vanity project it’s probably one of the few things I’ve done from start to finish. We also got involved in the whole Deconstructions process, which was a bonus album that came out featuring other people’s interpretations, so it was a massive project. It was a solid three years of my life, that’s what I invested in it, and I love it. It’s a nice bookend on that period of the band, and I guess that’s why we’re kind of languishing at the moment; we’re just trying to figure out what we do now. We thought about rushing in to do another [album] and we had some pretty amazing offers to record it, but I think we need to just start the whole process again and get the songs happening.”