There are moments on ‘Good People’, the opening track on The Harpoonist’s ‘Did We Come Here to Dance’, on which the harmonica and vocals mimic each other, the harmonica virtually singing in a way that is just extraordinary. Combine this with deep soul Hammond organ, equally soulful vocals and its call to action, “did we come here to dance or did we come here to die?” and it would be hard to find a better start to an album.
The Harpoonist, is the moniker of Shawn Hall, taken from a line in ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ (“I pulled a harpoon from my dirty red bandana”). The name makes more sense considering the North American tendency to refer to a harmonica as a harp, whereas I would always associate the harp with the much larger instrument plucked by Joanna Newsom or Mary Lattimore. After 17 years as part of a duo, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer (a name that suggests an off-colour and maybe off-putting humour), ‘Did We Come Here To Dance’ is his first solo album. It was produced by Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, one of Canada’s biggest selling bands, who also contributes drums, guitar, Moog bass, keys and vocoder. Recorded over ten days at Johnson’s ranch in Austin, Texas, it has the fluency, flow and spontaneity of a process that has allowed just enough time to develop ideas but without repeating them to the point of staleness.
‘Heartbreak Autobahn’ can very reasonably be compared to George Michael’s ‘Faith’ through a bluesy filter, an unlikely but effective combination that match its tale of struggling for self-acceptance. Musically, it is an up-tempo and uplifting piece. Lyrically, it manages to cram in references to such unlikely bedfellows as roller disco, Cajun, karaoke, Danny DeVito, Ultra Man and Thomas Dolby. That momentum is maintained with the bluesy ‘Acrobatic’, featuring a solid groove and some mighty harmonica playing, although at times the vocals are over-emphatic.
‘I May Not Have It All Together’ has a buoyant funk groove, and a piano line around which the harmonica wraps itself. Its title is borrowed from the “I may not have it together, but together we have it all” line that Hall repeats regularly on ‘Good People’ to such an extent that it can be seen as his mantra. Other phrases are shared between songs with the notion of “50,000 watts of static” appearing on both ‘Acrobatic’ and ‘Good People’, giving the sense of adlibbing around concepts.
‘Lullaby Life’ sees the influence of mid-90s hip hop with drums, guitar and Moog bass sprinkled with minimal harmonica. In contrast, ‘Show Me The Green’ begins with a blast of harmonica before wandering into a low-down swamp blues groove that is further bolstered by gospel-inflected vocals.
The variety of influences on the album is illustrated by ‘Yusef Lateef’ which is named in tribute to the jazz musician and features some lovely smooth sax playing from Walter Wimsley the Third. While it may be a rueful tale of coming down from a three-day bender, ‘Scrapper’ still has an appealing and positive energy.
Closing track, ‘Trucker Speed’ is a cover of Fred Eaglesmith’s song. It is adorned with a reggae beat which fills me with nerves (some of the worst musical atrocities have been committed in the name of white reggae – think of how the often-brilliant 10CC tarnished their reputation, although doing no harm to their record sales, with ‘Dreadlock Holiday’) but has a good sense of space though suffering from its vocal emphasis.
Ultimately, ‘Good People’ is worth the price of admission alone but it is worth staying for the duration as ‘Did We Come Here to Dance’ bubbles along merrily in its wake, a good time swamp blues feast.
The Harpoonist; Did We Come Here to Dance – Out 8 November 2024 (Tonic Records)
Harpoonist – Good People (Official Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
