Liverpool Indie-Electronica outfit, Haarm, unveil full new EP ‘Better Friend’

With their sumptuous former single ‘Valentine’ earning kudos from the likes of DORK, CLASH and lighting up the blogosphere, not to mention radio plaudits from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens/Phil Taggart and even a Radio X Track Of The Week; HAARM mapped-out their potential for a monumental new release later this year. Fast-forward 6 months and the Liverpool trio’s radiant ‘Better Friend’ EP drops today like the calling-card of a band brimming with the biggest of ambitions.

Crystallising their iridescent ideas and sky-scraping synthesisers, the ‘Better Friend’ EP paints glistening soundscapes with cosmos-calling choruses. Featuring the cathartic title track ‘Better Friend’, plus ‘Can We Keep The Light On?’ and the soul-stirring ‘I Believe It Now’, the ‘Better Friend’ EP is stamped with the sonic hallmarks of indie-electronica masters new and old, from Moby and New Order, Polica to Chvrches.

Finely balancing their uplifting anthemia with profoundly moving lyrical melancholia, HAARM’s latest collection is very much written in honour of loved ones close to the band who are sadly no longer with us.

“Title track ‘Better Friend’ and ‘Can We Keep The Light On?’ in particular are both about the loss of two friends that we’ve lost recently in two very different but very tragic circumstances” Chris Selman of the band states, offering us a glimpse into the personal subject matter that forms much of the new EP. “In ‘Better Friend’ we were going through everything with a fine comb questioning if we could have done things differently, if we could have helped if you were part of the problem. It’s trying to process and understand what happened.”

Elsewhere, ‘Can We Keep The Light On?’ finds the band haunted by the events of recent months and faced with the natural struggle that comes with the slow process of moving on. “It’s about  still being able to hear someone’s voice so clearly as if you spoke to them just now. It’s about assuming that you were going to be the kind of friends that grew old together and shared stories and not getting to grips with the fact that that’s going to happen now” he adds.

The EP closes-out with the ecstatic ‘I Believe It Now’, a track that has emerged from the deepest darkness of the last few months as something of a lucid dream hinting to a brighter future. A veritable confirmation of the epic and euphoric quality the band have captured on this latest EP as whole, fans of the beautiful game may well already recognise this track originally penned by Everything Everything as the title music for this season’s Premier League campaign on BT Sport. Revealing how the opportunity came together Chris says: 

“We were approached by BT Sport to cover [‘I Believe It Now’] for this season’s Premier League title music. We’re all pretty big into football so it was a no-brainer, really and if you are too, you’re probably going to be sick to the back teeth of hearing it by the end of the season! We’re big fans of Everything Everything, too, so it was good having a crack at one of theirs.”

With a full AV live show currently in development, fans can expect to see HAARM performing tracks from the ‘Better Friend’ EP throughout the Autumn, with a headline date at London’s The Waiting Room on 20th November and further dates to be announced shortly.

Very much cut from the same electronic cloth, HAARM will also be joining fellow Merseysiders Ladytron this Autumn at their hometown Liverpool appearance in November.

HAARM – 2018 LIVE DATES 

Sat 3rd Nov – Liverpool O2 Academy w/ Ladytron
Sun 4th Nov – London Roundhouse w/Ladytron

Thurs 20th Nov – London The Waiting Room

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