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“The intoxicated tantrums have given way to a manageable, strangely enjoyable hangover on Hold Open My Head…clean guitars cycle in a dream state during the verse and hitch in off-kilter rhythms during the hook” – Pitchfork
“We named Nai Harvest our ‘Band to Watch’ because they are fucking great” – Stereogum
“Cult Sheffield punks” – NME
“Their crafty plays on rhythm and dexterously executed shredding are anything but average” – MTV Iggy
“… Hook-laden… the track applies the band’s knack for ramshackle punk sensibilities to riffs far meatier and muscular than anything they’ve produced before” – DIY Magazine
“Fizzy, scuzzy indie rock… and man, can they write a great hook.” —Rough Trade NYC
Hairball, the follow up to Sheffield, UK indie punk duo Nai Harvest’s buzzed-about Hold Open My Head EP and huge single Buttercups (2014), was recorded with producer Bob Cooper (Sky Ferreira, Empire of The Sun, Citizen) over the course of one frenetic month.
Young guitarist and vocalist Ben Thompson (22) and drummer Lew Currie (24) are incredibly focused; a pair of best friends who have found their sound on their own terms. After two years of nearly relentless touring that took them to the other side of the world and back, the band has fully articulated that sound with Hairball.
Nai Harvest has always had a habit of surprising people, whether by surpassing their sonic expectations of a two piece or by effortlessly skipping between genres. Racing through ‘80s and ‘90s-influenced indie rock, Hairball is propulsive and elastic, taking sharp turns into hazy garage punk and feedback-laden grunge.
Hairball’s 10 tracks are brand new songs from Nai Harvest, apart from a new recording of the anthemic single “Buttercups”, (first released on flower-shaped vinyl in July of 2014). From the warm, major chord melodies of opener “Spin” to the fevered, buzzy pace of single “Sick On My Heart” and the neurotic phrasing of LP titled closer “Hairball”, the record places its focus squarely on memorable hooks, reverb and fuzz, all tied together by crashing cymbals and a driving rhythm section. At times, Hairball feels like an early Creation Records release, something Alan McGee would have championed before Oasis came along and threw his label into the big-time, or something that John Peel might have doted over.
Last year, the band toured across the UK and Europe, packed festival shows at Beacons, Bestival, Tramlines and Gold Sounds, sold out headlined shows across the UK, went on a US tour and performed dates for Rough Trade and more at CMJ. The band plans to tour relentlessly, much as they did last year, through 2015–this time, off the back of their best material yet.
NAI HARVEST ON TOUR
04.16.15 – Cardiff, Wales @ Club Ifor Bach
04.17.15 – London, England @ Birthdays
04.18.15 – Brighton, England @ Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
04.19.15 – Nottingham, England @ Bodega Social Club
04.20.15 – Birmingham, England @ The Oobleck
04.21.15 – Glasgow, Scotland @ Broadcast
04.22.15 – Manchester, England @ Soup Kitchen
04.23.15 – Leeds, England @ Brudenell Social Club
04.24.15 – Sheffield, England @ The Harley
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