Harpooner moved from Bloomington, Indiana, to Nashville a couple of years ago, bringing their richly textured brand of pop with them. The former Indiana University students are preparing to release their debut album Rose Park this Friday, and today we’re premiering the record’s third single, the watery dream of “Love Shadow.”
The band name-check Harry Nilsson and Leon Russell as inspirations, and while “Love Shadows”’s piano phrasings do recall both of those older artists, those sounds make their way to us through Ariel Pink’s vertigo-inducing filters. The past—in this case, the recent past—exists in an uncomfortable and ghostly way.
“You know when you get that spine-shivering feeling that you think someone is watching you?” singer Scott Schmadeke says of the song’s genesis. “I’ve been feeling that more and more in recent years; I startle very easily. So this is a specific case of someone over my shoulder—a lingerer, a ghost who won’t let me leave her sights. ‘Love Shadow’ takes place out at Lake Monroe, Bloomington’s favorite swimming hole. Sometimes you confront your ghost face-to-face, but then realize it was just a woman disguised by a constant cloud of smoke the whole time.”
You can give “Love Shadow” a listen below.
Rose Park track list
“Love Shadow”
“Stolid Head”
“All I Get Back”
“Bigger Thoughts”
“Hush Up”
“Cosmic Love”
“Immigration”
“Memphis”
“Just Let Me Get By”
