I’m a Hoosier by birth, so I’m always happy to hear of new bands from my home state of Indiana. And although the Bloomington, IN-bred trio Harpooner have since relocated to Nashville (for business reasons I can totally understand), I am still happy to celebrate them on the occasion of their debut album, Rose Park, newly announced for release on June 24. And besides – they’re pretty noteworthy just on the strength of their tunes, including the insistent single, “Carolines,” which features a striking, black & white performance video which we are pleased to premiere. As you will see, they are joined by their fellow Bloomington transplant, Diederik Van Wassener, on violin, lending an extra layer to the band’s folksy brand of indie rock.

The band was certainly aiming for a particular look for their video, both artistically and thematically. In their own words: “We thought a centrifugal force from the camerawork would best represent the song, constantly pulling away and swinging around the center. As soon as you get used to one direction, the opposite occurs. This high contrast black and white video will hopefully encourage us to best represent all of our species, not just those who are like-minded to us.” But if celebrating differences is part of their aesthetic, there’s one thing we can all agree upon – this is a new band to watch! - KCRW - Los Angeles' NPR Affiliate

“If someone asks what we sound like, I say that we do 1970s pop. And if they say ‘what does that mean?’ I just say that I like Carole King a lot.” And that’s pretty much all you’ll get from Scott Schmadeke, Harpooner frontman and one third of the past-punching collective. When I pull up to the band’s house on a Friday afternoon, albeit a little late and a bit dazed by the week, Josh Morrow (drums) is dashing out the door, and Scott and Max Mullen (bass) are babysitting an energetic four-year-old for the day. Circumstances considered, we kick off our interview over popsicles and jump into talking about the band’s journey from Bloomington to Nashville and their debut LP, Rose Park.

Harpooner 2016“Honestly, I wish we had never had to leave, but it just got to the point where we had to,” Scott candidly says. Max interjects, “the stars had kind of aligned. Between us touring and having a few friends move here, we were all kind of ready for a change.” From the little time I’ve spent in Bloomington, there is a sort of happy magic about the college town, and Indiana University always claims some of the best musicians. The circumstance was true for the three-piece that met while working at Lenny’s, a pizza place in a strip mall. “We were originally called Lenny’s House Band for the first three or four house shows we played,” Scott recalls, inspiring my curiosity about the current band name. “It’s from a painting Max showed me, and the name of the painting was “Harpooner.” I’ve never forgotten the name of that painting since. All you can see is the wire attached to the harpoon and the harpooner stretched out totally parallel to the water because he’s diving to spear a whale. I just liked the weightlessness of it all,” he continues. So from a painting and propelling into contemporary reality comes Harpooner and in 2014 comes a relocation to a more Southern city that earns them a now “Nashville band” title. Having met the good people of bands like Blank Range, Ranch Ghost and Chrome Pony, among others in their Indiana time, the new city felt a bit more familiar but still not like their city. At this point they had only released an A & B side on vinyl (with a hidden Paul McCartney cover), so they were living in an age of output intention, one in which they still live and create. Nashville had purpose, but they weren’t leaving their beloved Bloomington without the city in tow in some capacity or another.

Rose Park, Harpooner’s debut LP, is a montage of 1970s nostalgia, an era none of the members know by experience but only by sonic emersion, and the refreshing sound of the album as a whole is probably due to the fact that the current “Nashville” sound is nowhere to be found on it. “We recorded this album at Blockhouse in Bloomington with our friend Andy Beargie…it was interesting, because Scott had a very solid idea of what he wanted it to sound like. We recorded it all to tape, and we actually didn’t even use a computer until we started mixing,” says Max. “Technically our sessions were 2pm-midnight, but Andy would leave at about midnight, and we would keep working until about 5 or 6 in the morning,” elaborates Scott. The recording process took 32 days over the span of ten months, and the band’s generation is kaleidoscopic pyschedelia that’s less trippy and more experiential. “I’ve had these sounds in my head since I wrote the songs, and I wrote them while living in Bloomington, so I dwelled in them quite a bit. I knew how I wanted [the record] to sound, and I wasn’t going to stop until we made it there,” Scott asserts. Having recorded all the songs at least four times previously, minus “Love Shadow,” which was written while recording, the band had come to know the songs quite well, and their relationship with them is sensationally evident on the album.

Harpooner Album CoverEvocative of a colorful era, it’s impossible to deny the emulations of their favorite artists, most notably The Beatles, but it’s certainly not imitative. Rose Park is teeming with production references that are innovated to suit the three-piece’s chemistry and style. Kicking off the album with “Carolines,” a cyclical prism of pulses and string accents, their attention to rhythm is engrossing, especially if you pair the experience with the music video (see below). The mood-inducing melodies carry you through “Love Shadow” and “Stolid Head,” which is a track with some of the best lyrics on the entire album (teaser: “your insecure overture is bringing me down”). “All I Get Back” is a swift retrogression into the most Beatles’ allusion I’ve heard in awhile, punctuated by guitar and bleeding perfectly into “Bigger Thoughts,” a track most memorable for its piano mural. That idea of ‘weightlessness’ Scott mentioned earlier about Harpooner is found in “Hush Up” and “Cosmic Love,” two exhales of organized chaos created by strings and lush orchestrations. By tracking the piano, bass and drums live and overdubbing the vocals, strings and extras, there is an Elysian energy that makes the complex marriage of elements unlike anything you’ll hear around this town. With the help of Diederik van Wassenaer on violin/viola (expect more words from me on this guy) and Josh Menashe and Owle Sigman on guitars, the album comes alive in its intricacies and harmonies. Understanding that there is so much to choose from, I ask what their favorite part of the album is. “Honestly, I really love the art,” Max expresses, picking up the freshly delivered vinyl covers. And that about sums up all the clues I got from Harpooner: everything you want to know about them is on this album, and they leave it there for you to unearth.

Rose Park is coming to you tomorrow, but we’ll be posted up at The Basement soaking up Harpooner’s set tonight for their vinyl release show with Chrome Pony and Walking Man. We recommend you do the same. - Lockeland Springsteen

Bloomington, Indiana-bred (and now Nashville based) trio Harpooner is making a name for themselves in the music industry with the lead up singles to their debut LP Rose Park. Max Mullen, Josh Morrow, and Scott Schmadeke are having a ball performing up and down the east coast at present, promoting that debut LP. Having already released the song “Carolines,” their debut was announced on KCRW last month. Now they’re back with their follow-up track, “Hush Up”, which is premiering exclusively on IMPOSE.

“‘Hush Up’ is an amalgamation of the whole album,” says frontman Scott Schmadeke. “There are two crucial elements to this song: denial and error. The former is due to the latter. I wanted to tell my love I had been with another, but never did. I swept it under the carpet in order to keep things high and tight, a craven move. I took to pain meds to cope.” This melancholic aspect of the song can be identified almost immediately, with the slow rhythm and vintage-sounding guitar notes. Schmadeke’s moody vocals bring the emotion behind the song to life.

It doesn’t stop there. Not only are the lyrics heart breaking, but so is Schmadeke’s crooning over a psychedelic-pop sound. After all, they are a self-proclaimed “1970’s pop” band. Five minutes and twenty-six seconds of musical bliss, with a drop off at 3:40 to bring you back to the reality that this is a very layered track. The attention to detail is insane.

“Musically speaking, the ‘C’ section of the song is quite more aurally stimulating than the others,” notes Schmadeke. “A train blows by. You can even hear the tracks and the whistles made by a space echoed piano and church organ pipes. Even after listening to it a thousand times through the recording process, I still believe ‘Hush Up’ is my favorite cut on this album because of the array of production tricks and dynamic changes used to provoke my state of mind.”

We couldn’t agree more. - IMPOSE Magazine

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.” - FLOOD Magazine

Bloomington week continues on the blog with this new video premiere. We got ahold of a new vid for "Printed Boxes" from Bloomington's Harpooner, a psychy/poppy/'70s lovin' four-piece prepping to set off on a fairly extensive fall tour to support their February 7'' Speed, mastered at B-town studio Magnetic South. The video, produced by ShutterShock Productions, perfectly mimics how it feels to go to shows in basements, bars and fields in Bloomington — kaleidoscopes and Christmas lights and all. It reminds me of climbing over mattresses and discarded desktop monitors to get a better look at the band in the corner of the stranger's basement I'm in, and of setting up the stages at Culture Shock in Dunn Meadow every spring. Basically, it's making me really nostalgic for Bloomington.

Their tour includes an Indianapolis date at Westgate on the 28 with Faux Paw and Chieftan. A full list of tour dates is below.

MIDWEST // SOUTH
9-25 Madison, WI - Mickey's
9-26 Chicago, IL - Reggie's Music Joint
9-27 Lafayette, IN - Hunter's Down Under*
9-28 Indianapolis, IN - Westgate*^
9-29 Louisville KY - The New Vintage
10-1 Jackson, TN - Downtown Tavern
10-2 Tuscaloosa, AL - Egans
10-3 Athens, GA - House Show
10-5 Nashville, TN - The East Room
10-6 Cincinnati, OH - The Comet
10-7 Dayton, OH - Blind Bob's
10-8 Columbus, OH - Kafe Kerouac
10-9 Ann Arbor, MI - House Show
10-11 Bloomington, IN - Video Saloon &

* w/ Faux Paw
*^ w/ Faux Paw and Chieftan
& w/ Purple 7

EAST COAST
11-13 Nashville, TN - FooBar Too
11-14 Tuscaloosa, AL - Green Bar
11-16 Greenville, SC - Radio Room
11-17 Augusta, GA - The Soul Bar
11-18 Charleston, SC - Tatooed Moose
11-19 Charlotte, NC - The Evening Muse
11-20 New York, NY - The Bowery Electric - NUVO Magazine