23 October 2023
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Harry from London duo high jump to find out more…
Who is in the duo and how did you meet?
Over the last few years I (Harry) was writing and sending unsolicited demos to Rick, drummer in the band Tungz, and after a while the tracks strayed into a genre that caught his ear. Starting with ‘M2K’, we decided to start putting ideas together and working on the tunes.
This initially started as Rick just sending voice notes of production and arrangement ideas to work into the songs, and evolved into him sitting next to me in the studio making sound effects/noises for me to interpret and translate. It helped that ‘M2K’ was the first song that we worked on together as it gave a solid foundation and helped shape the sound of the project. There are loads more demos and tunes that we’re looking forward to finishing over the rest of the year.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Our influences are mainly guitar-driven acts who are able to combine that with sleek modern production. I think the artists whose influence has bled into the first single most consciously are the likes of Blood Orange / Cocteau Twins / Jai Paul. (Harry) My music taste hasn’t really changed for a long time but I’ve definitely got better at making the kind of music that I’d actually listen to myself, rather than trying to preempt what I think people want to hear. I’ve tried to trust my own enjoyment of what we’re producing as much as possible, but I still rely on focus-grouping new tunes more than I should!
How would you describe your sound?
Our influences are constantly changing, which has a massive impact on how things eventually sound, song by song. I (Harry) often start the writing process at the guitar or piano, and those ideas are interpreted into full songs in the studio based on what we’re listening to – it all filters through, from Sade to Bruce Hornsby depending on the week. We’d particularly love to include more of Rick’s live drumming, so expect to hear that in the future. Our first run of singles is definitely more guitar-led.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
As mentioned, ‘M2K’ is the first tune we worked on together, and we think it sets the scene for the project’s sound. It was exciting building an upbeat debut, and definitely reached a new level once Rob’s bass made it in there. Production wise, it all came together pretty quickly compared to some of the others, just following what felt good.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We have a pipeline of singles planned for the foreseeable future, and we’re aiming to release roughly one every few months during this phase, probably culminating in a more substantial release next year. We have lots of finished tracks in the pipeline that we can’t wait to release ASAP.
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
high jump was initially conceptualised as a studio project first and foremost, so we’re completely open to working with anyone depending on what each track needs to make it as listenable as possible, without the constraints of having to immediately translate every song into a live performance. Dream collaborations at the moment would include artists like Caroline Polachek/Indigo de Souza, with some production help from A.K. Paul perhaps. We love what acts like Jungle, Big Red Machine, and even Steely Dan have done to challenge the parameters of what it means to be in a ‘band’, personnel-wise.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
‘M2K’ is just the first of a few, plenty more to come…
You can find out more about high jump via Apple Music, Deezer, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify or YouTube Music.
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