Jesse Harris

Feel

(Velour)

Record Review by Corey Podell

Jesse’s Harris’s new album, Feel, has us doing just that - Feeling.  And it isn’t because this album is a heavy, deep thinking, socially conscious piece of art, but rather because it’s a light, poppy, fun record that makes us think if good stuff- like road trips and barbeques and warm hot chocolate on a cool day.  Don’t get me wrong here, Jesse Harris takes music quite seriously, but Feel has us simply feeling good.  Sometimes this is just what music should be, an escape from our daily stresses and a retreat into Paul Simonesque lyrics and beats.

Harris is no stranger to the music scene, but you may not have heard of him, because he has always acted as a behind the scenes maestro, writing music and composing melodies for other artists, most notably Norah Jones.  It was with Jones that Harris won his Grammy award and got him the respect he deserved from others- most recently Ethan Hawke who had him compose all of the songs for Hawke’s coming of age film, The Hottest State.  And though Harris only performs on two of the tunes on the soundtrack, he has enough pull in the industry to get Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris (no relation), M. Ward, Cat Power and Feist to record his other ditties.

But now back to Feel.  Feel isn’t Harris’s first stab at a solo recording, but it is his best and most polished studio album to date, being released on New York City’s own Velour Records. The record even includes his best cover art to date.  The unassuming Harris has been compared to a young Paul Simon mostly because of his catchy beats and lyrical tendencies, and Harris takes this as a compliment.  It is strange, however, that Harris lives, writes and records in New York City as the songs on Feel seem more of a beach record to me.  Either that or an Irish jig type of vibe, like the track “Walk On,” a light tune I picture skipping to in the green fields of Ireland.

Most of the songs are short and to the point, each possessing their own narrative and identity.  The title track has a catchy vocal hook that can’t be ignored and the hand drums taken from Brazilian influences on “I Don’t Mind” remind us that Harris has been at this for awhile and knows exactly what goes where and when.  The banjo is a constant throughout Feel, especially on “How Could It Take So Long” and “I Would”, the most romantic love song of the bunch.  Overall, Harris has got this thing down to a science - a science of happy, positive tunes that invite humor, optimism, and gentle romanticism into the fray of what at times can be too many melancholy and angst ridden singer-songwriter types.

It has been rumored that Harris’s prolific writing has only scratched the surface of his talent and that there are hundreds more songs that have yet to be recorded in his arsenal.  This is great news, but until then, Feel will do just fine.