As far as unpretentiousness goes, Harlem’s garage-rock 2010 album Hippies is up there with the music of Beat Happening, Daniel Johnston, and The Shaggs. A wonderfully easygoing collection of songs that are as loose as they are memorable, Hippies sadly proved to be the last time we’d ever gotten to hear from the Texan-via-all-sorts-of-places band — until recently, that is. Earlier this month, Harlem’s principal songwriters, Coomers and Curtis, released a surprise song called “Cry Now Cry Later;” now, they’ve announced that their comeback LP, Oh Boy, will be out on February 19 via Female Fantasy Records.
If you’ve expected the duo to go full Daft Punk though, you’ll be disappointed: “Swervin’,” the band’s just-released single, shows that Harlem still sound like Harlem…with maybe just a tiny bit of Mark Bolanesque vibes added to the mix. That’s not entirely surprising, considering that it was the enjoyment Coomers and Curtis found during their live reunion in 2017 that inspired them “to back off from their respective careers as line cook and community college student” (not to mention their solo projects Grape St. and Lace Curtains) and make Oh Boy.
You can listen to both “Swervin”” and “Cry Now Cry Later” below. The album’s full tracklisting, upcoming Harlem tour dates, and the one thing any truly classy TMT news story would never be complete without — A PRE-ORDER LINK — will be available soon.
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