The Inevitable and I // Harvard

This is not your usual album. I was so impressed with this band that I actually begged their label to let me review the album early, and I’ve been listening it nonstop since I got it. It’s that good. This is the debut full length by the North Carolina five-piece, Harvard. The album is available today (Dec 1) digitally and physically (I suggest physically because you do not want to miss out on the album art!) and would make a great Christmas present for yourself or someone else. Here’s a little fair warning, I am about to say “love” so much you’ll start questioning whether or not it is a word.

“On With Disease”
This is the perfect opening track, it sets the pace for the rest of the album. It’s got a very strong drum beat and an energetic bass line. It immediately launches into what I feel will be Harvard’s classic “sound” for the rest of their (hopefully very long) musical career. Ten albums from now, people will say, “it’s evolved so much but it still has that Harvard sound” like people tend to say about Rx Bandits or Portugal. The Man with each album. “On With Disease” has harmonies and backing vocals in just the right places. Singer Jesse Clasen shows us both ends of his vocal range, with the chorus vocals high and verses sinking low. The chorus is my favorite part of the song, “Summer came to pass, all I asked is where you were,” is high energy and great to sing along to. Just before the chorus, the music quiets down a little bit but you don’t even notice until the chorus comes back at full volume…the intensity and energy is still the same, even quietly from these guys. There is always something to keep your interest, like a bit of piano here and there, or ethereal noises from the guitars.

“French Girls”
This song really slows down the pace of the album but it’s a perfect fit for track two…the trumpet doesn’t even throw me off. I love how this song is still high energy, even while being slow and smooth. Jesse has a very pure, clear, and soothing voice. I’ve already noticed that Harvard really knows how to use harmonies where they will have some sort of impact. How can they be slow and quiet on a rock album without it being boring? The verses are filled with shakers and light percussion. Jesse brings back a lot of energy and intensity into the song after a soft bridge with, “hello no!” repeated a few times. When he goes into his higher, ‘growly’ range, he is a dead ringer for Anthony Green, but then the vocals fluctuate and he falls back into his lower register, and the resemblance is gone. (You’ll hear a ton of little flickers of similarity between Jesse Clasen and Anthony Green throughout the entire album but I am going to let Harvard be Harvard and let you hear the similarities on your own.) This song sounds a lot like something Circa Survive would write, with its steady bass and drums, allowing the guitarists to go off on cooler sounding solo types, without making a discordant song.

“Deliverance”
At first, I wasn’t sure about this song because I wasn’t a fan of the opening guitar sound. I like the guitars on the verses, though. I love the rhythm of the vocals when the lines start to get a bit more intense. The guitar on this song at certain times reminds me of Circa Survive’s “Kicking Your Crosses Down.” I love the growling and intensity in Jesse Clasen’s voice at the lines “looks like I don’t care, but I always care.” This song really shows me two things: Harvard is really good at mixing piano with heavier instruments without drowning it out, and guitarists Jason Shaw and Lisandro Herrera really know how to work together and coordinate effects and melodies and making them very balanced.

“Memory Police”
This is the song that made me fall head over heels in love with Harvard. The opening drums are some of my favorite on the album. The lead guitar during the verses mixes it up nicely with its somewhat flighty sounding riff, and the other guitar does one note fade ins and outs keeping it interesting and eerie. I love the sliding vocals in the chorus, and I sort of feel like I’ve been somehow listening to a game of limbo… did I think that I had heard the lowest notes the singer could hit? Well guess again! This is not the heaviest song of the album but I do feel like it is the most aggressive on the album. The drums are very reminiscent of INXS, and the rhythm guitar on the second verse has an echo effect very similar to “Mandala” by Circa Survive and “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” by The Police. Again, the edge Jesse can put into his voice which projects so much feeling into the song and then switch right back to a beautiful high range is incredible.

“An End Weight”
This is the heaviest use of piano so far and one of my favourite bass lines on the album, Garrett Leister is like the master of smooth. Love the wavering of the guitar. I love the lyrics, “I keep cool like a fool with a stitched mouth” and  the slow, steadiness of the verses. It’s still remarkable to me how smooth the singer’s voice is. They know how to use their effects pedals without overdoing it! This song sounds very dark during the verses and I’m loving the piano. Then, the chorus comes and it’s got what sounds a bit like a glockenspiel. “I’ve got you like a tattoo on my body” has the perfect aggressive piano, high-pitched guitar accenting the piano, high, energetic vocals, it’s just all perfect. Piano in the right ear, guitar in the left, I love it how it messes with your balance. Then the abrupt silence and a capella vocals. Out of no where, all of the instruments come back with intensity like they had never stopped.

“Ghost”
I’ve been up all night listening to The Police and I think this song shows their influence on Harvard the most during the verses. I love this song, it’s a very strong song on the album. “Someone, Somewhere” “I can feel it , I can feel it” are sung perfectly in his high range. I love Jason and Lisandro’s use of high-pitched guitars. It has probably been done, but I have never heard it before, the brief silence and very quiet part between chorus and verse, that sounds a lot like something the Dust Brothers would have done for the Fight Club soundtrack. I think it’s a delay pedal that is making the guitar sound so awesome.  I love how effortlessly Jesse switches from the sort of growl to perfectly clear singing.

“Tenebroso”
The beginning of this song sounds very similar to the Portugal. The Man song “1989.” It’s like Harvard has effortlessly taken the best aspects of all of my favorite bands and rolled it all together. It’s the shortest song on the album, at 1:37 and perhaps the most experimental of them all. I love the abstract noises mixing with the main piano melody.

“Hand To Hesitate”
This shows off Harvard’s ability to mix it up with different styles and influences on the same album. It’s different than all of the previous songs. In the middle of the song, the music stops and one drum about every four seconds, with creepy, fading, effects on guitar. Then, it’s a small drum beat every four seconds, with vocals. It gets slightly more detailed every measure. My favorite part of this song comes just after that, “I miss the way you hesitate” with the heavier drums coming back and high-pitched guitar and the vocal repetition is very nice. I also hear a bit of Ace Enders in the vocals.

“Mister T(th)”
I feel like this song has the most “mainstream, commercial” success potential. It’s the “pop single” on the album. It starts out with a groovy bass line and a simple guitar riff before the slightly more experimental sound kicks in. This is the song that convinced me Harvard writes experimental music for people who don’t like experimental music. Tim Cossor’s drum work is very similar to U2’s “I Will Follow.” The chorus “She ran away with a boy…” is very radio worthy! “Murderer, you’re a murderer” gave me chills when I first heard it. This song definitely proves that there is something everyone can like about this album.

”What We Had”
I love this song so much! I love that this song is piano based. This song reminds me of Gregory and the Hawk when it gets quieter. The verse lyrics are basically the same, different only as if it were further along in a story. Harvard has written a slow, melodic, piano song and it can still be classified as experimental. What a trip. This song is beautiful and will probably be popular with the ladies.

“Hallucinating The Horse”
This is an odd choice to come after “What We Had” since it’s one of the heaviest songs on the album, but somehow it works. It also shows off Jesse’s even lower range again. This song has a nice beat and the least obvious use of effects on the album.

“The Creative”
”Hallucinating The Horse” flows right into this like it’s the same song, much like “The Earth” and “What We Had.” This IS the heaviest song on the album. It’s like they wanted to get all their rocking out done before the title track. It sounds like a Nintendo game from the 80s for just a bit. Really love the second half of the song where it slows down. I love the vocals in the second half, as well as the noises and effects. Then, out of nowhere again, the guitars come in heavily.

“The Inevitable and I”
Just a classical guitar with eerie noises made by a cymbal being scraped and a shaker. This reminds me of something off of Eisley’s Combinations.  I love the very end of the song, with the lyric “inevitable and I.” This is a very beautiful and simple song…you just have to hear it.

Bottom line: Words can’t really sum up how much I love this album… It’s very cohesive and varied without being eclectic.

Best Song:
If you like slow songs: The Inevitable and I or What We Had
If you like heavy songs: Hallucinating the Horse or The Creative
Other than that, I can’t choose….I think if someone tried to make me choose my favorite song, at gunpoint, I would die. I just can’t do it.