Harlow Lake – Bell and Jewel (2021)
With 15 years in the music industry (give or take), Shane O’Leary is no stranger to the stage and music scene. Touring extensively throughout the UK, Ireland and Sicily with Jezery and Lamp, as well as supporting Ten Past Seven, Three Trapped Tigers and Adebisi Shank, O’Leary has experience many emerging artists would give their left arms for. Now, O’Leary is blasting onto 2021 as Harlow Lake with a different style, sound and approach.
Combining elements of alternative rock, progressive rock and grunge, O’Leary’s solo project Harlow Lake is building a reputation for engaging lyrics atop moving melodies. Featured on Indie Buddie, Alternative Fruit, Demars Magazine, Echo Live and Babylon Radio (to name a few), Harlow Lake is gaining coverage on an international level. We have the honour of reviewing his prog-rock single ‘Bell and Jewel’.
One of the more popular songs on his sophomore solo album Valley of Teeth, ‘Bell and Jewel’ is a compelling fusion of dynamic guitars and steady drums. Using a distinctive finger-picking style, O’Leary adds an experimental edge to the track; however, this eclecticism is only furthered with the interspersed “urban” style underlying the progressive rock design. I find this change in pace and tempo extremely interesting as it showcases O’Leary’s innovativeness and versatility as an artist.
I mention O’Leary’s eclecticism and innovativeness within the song, but this is nothing compared to the album as a whole. An immersive album, Valley of Teeth is a conglomeration of various styles and sounds with no one track sounding like another. O’Leary elegantly traverses 90s grunge to folk-rock and synth-filled soft rock; however, I digress because we are here to discuss ‘Bell and Jewel’ and not Valley of Teeth.
While ‘Bell and Jewel’ is greatly guitar-driven, the prominent vocals and strong drumming add robustness to the track. Plunging you into a simplistic soundscape, but with a kaleidoscopic harmony between the various elements, ‘Bell and Jewel’ is a soul-stirring song. Despite the joviality of the track, there is a seriousness in the melody which aligns with the deep lyricism showing O’Leary is more than a pretty face.
Penned during a time when O’Leary was “doing a lot of intensive meditation practices and having very intense weird experiences through his normal day”, ‘Bell and Jewel’ has an otherworldly with a lingering haunting over the quick-paced melody. Touching on existential truths and human existence, the single explores aspects of anxiety, insecurity, desperation but with a slick of self-empowerment. According to O’Leary, “the song’s about learning to be aware of all the different parts of myself – the good, the bad and the ugly”.
Overall, I truly enjoy this distinctive song; it is unlike anything I have heard this year. The elegant traversing of several genres makes it compelling and shows Harlow Lake is not to be pigeon-holed.
For more from Harlow Lake check out his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
