As It Goes

“Divided Kind” (September 13 via Different Time Records) opens with the title track; frontwoman Devin Tuel’s honey-toned vocal accompanied by gospel-tinged piano, deftly broadening to an exuberant celebration of liberation, abetted by a chorus of soaring voices, electric, acoustic, and 12-string guitars, stentorian Hammond B3 organ, communal handclaps and tambourines, and galvanizing bass and drums. That these first four minutes, a veritable wall-of-sound, were performed and recorded completely by the two members of Native Harrow (the aforementioned Devin Tuel and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Harms), augmented solely by a drum kit performance from longtime collaborator Alex Hall (Pokey LaFarge, JD McPherson, The Cactus Blossoms), is perhaps as perfect an introduction as any to their world.
 
Philly-based Native Harrow have remained largely independent - musically, professionally, and aesthetically, since their beginning, meticulously crafting and perfecting a sound and style that is melded together from pieces of folk, soul, and rock n’ roll. This music is distinctly American (but not Americana…). Or maybe Pan-American. This is the lifetime’s work of two scholars of music whose individual backgrounds in the arts have forged a strict artistic discipline that exists in sharp contrast to the more traditionally laissez-faire world of rock and popular music. The duo’s songs and albums have thus far completely refused categorization. Either they’ve never been pigeonholed, or if so, they’ve remained completely ignorant to it. Over a catalog of six albums, Native Harrow have produced a discography of “rich, engrossing records” and “instant classics” while single-mindedly following their own artistic code, acquiescing only to the exigence of the song: each song its own world with its own rules.
 
Formed a decade ago, Native Harrow spent their first five or six years crisscrossing the United States and Canada on numerous tours, averaging more than 150 concerts per year in 47 states and 4 provinces, on the back of two self-released albums, Ghost (2015) and Sorores (2017). In 2019, they released Happier Now, partnering with London alt-country stalwarts Loose Records. The record garnered glowing reviews, with Rough Trade selecting it for its album of the month, writing “Beautifully soaring... rolling grooves ground languid and dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound.” The critical acclaim and Americana chart success of the album prompted three back-to-back UK tours in 2019 and early 2020, ultimately leading to a three-year stint living and touring in the UK and Europe. In this time, Native Harrow released two more critically acclaimed records with Loose; Closeness (2020) and Old Kind of Magic (2022), playing for audiences ranging from rock clubs in Norway and Sweden to opera halls in Portugal, and every stop in-between, as well as performing at festivals such as BST Hyde Park (supporting the Eagles and Robert Plant & Alison Kraus), Greenman Festival, Black Deer Festival, The Great Escape, Celtic Connections, Moseley Folk Festival, SXSW, and many more.
 
Whereas Native Harrow’s previous records have grown increasingly more expansive, both stylistically and in terms of the musical forces applied, “Divided Kind” counters this categorical unfurling with a lateral move towards the ground, with both feet firmly planted, in a folk-soul-rock sound that still explores their love of RnB, jazz, country, and farther-flung inspirations while simultaneously digging in, with more authority, to the musical world they have constructed. Or maybe they’re still searching, and “Divided Kind” is what’s next. Their refusal to be put in a box, and their relentless insistence on catering to the demands of each individual song suggests the latter is likely the truth at hand.
 
Following the eruption of its title track, Side A of “Divided Kind” transitions nimbly through hazy tremolo-laden dusty canyons, past an intimate soulful love letter, and towards a moody anthem of devotion buoyed by propulsive grooves, before ultimately settling on a gentle bird’s-eye-view of love and transcendence. Side B opens with the debut single, “Goin’ Nowhere” a soul transmission over incendiary bass and undulating layers of guiro, congas, tambourines, shakers, and handclaps that sidesteps into moments of infinite dial-toned burnished, Rhodes-propelled soul-jazz and self-assured blues rock à gogo before ending in a spectral folk reading on celestial meditation.
 
“Divided Kind” was produced and recorded by the pair, in their home studio surrounded by the vintage acoustic and electric guitars, dusty semi-functional amplifiers, and out-of-date Rhodes, B3, piano, and assorted percussion they’ve grown accustomed to. Chicago-based Alex Hall was again drafted to add drums and to mix, and Philadelphia drummer and engineer Joshua Friedman mastered the record. London-based musician Joe Harvey-Whyte added the pedal steel to “Borrowing Time”, with all other voices and instruments being performed by Tuel and Harms. “Divided Kind” is available everywhere September 13 on Different Time Records.
 
“Timeless”
— PASTE
 
“Refuses to stagnate”
— THE LINE OF BEST FIT
 
“Exquisite. Expect forays into desert funk, warm ‘70s groove, 
jazz and piano balladry.”
— UNCUT
 
“Reflective, dulcet-toned folk-rock duo with shades of Linda Ronstadt and Carole King… Happier Now was one of 2019’s overlooked gems.”
— THE TIMES