Harlan releases blistering ode to self doubt and insecurity with “Anyways”

“Anyways” is taken from Harlan‘s self-titled debut album, to be released in June 2019.

Opening your heart and bleeding all over a song is never easy, but that’s what 21 year-old Memphis native Harlan Hutton, aka Harlan, does as an artist. Drawing on years of journals and notebooks, Harlan’s work always feels deeply personal, raw and self reflective but manages to do so without alienating the listener.

In her new offering, “Anyways”, this vulnerability and emotional transparency is on full display. In her own words:

”Anyways” is about that place of self sabotage you can get into at the beginning of a relationship… it’s at the intersection of being optimistic and in love and feeling cynical about how past relationships turned out.

These dichotomous ideas, the uncertainty of a new relationship and the healing powers of being in love, grapple with each other over a deceptively chipper guitar riff. The effect is a humanistic one, a celebration of love tinged with sadness and pain. The loud then quiet structure is also evocative of the highs and lows of love, with complex but familiar sounding frantic guitar riffs, followed by languid sections that strips itself back to drums and bass, pushing Harlan’s fuzzy vocals to the forefront.

At the song’s climactic minute, everything gets dialed up to 11, finishing with the flourish of a glorious cacophony, a celebratory amalgamation of all the elements that have been building together over the course of the song. Listen below.

Rachel Chandler

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