The Saturday Morning Cereal Bowl
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Video Premiere: The Harmonica Pocket – “Sand Song”
The Harmonica Pocket has a few albums under their belt in the family music genre. Typically falling somewhere between Americana and Indie, their music has a gentle aspect to it without sounding watered down.
Their next album, Sing Your Song, releases in October. Frontman Keeth Apgar continues his tradition of a simplistic and earthy recording technique, also including family members. “I record in a humble home studio powered by solar electricity. I use wood to heat the space so there’s actually a lot of prep, planning and wood splitting before I play a single note. My albums take a long time to produce this way but it’s how I make it happen.” Apgar adds, “I’m always writing. It’s how I make sense of the world around me. At some point I look at the pile of songs lying on the carpet and realize it’s time to make a record. Some of these songs were accidentally written while trying to eat breakfast. Three songs were co-written with my son which really brought the family music thing full circle for me. I try to let the songs comes when they want to.”
The first single is “Sand Song”. “I started writing this song on the beach one day. I didn’t know where it was going, but some of the rhymes were ridiculous (and true!) so I just went with it. Sometimes I just have discover the song as I go. And kick a little sand around in the process.” The song has a deeper message than you might realize at first listen. “Everyone has problems. For me “Sand Song” is about giving and receiving support for the challenges in our lives. It’s my way of saying (what Bill Withers put so well!) we all need somebody to lean on.”
The video seems just as upbeat as the song itself. “Kids are always getting blamed for making messes. I thought it’d be fun to twist things up and make my own mess, get covered in sand, fall in the water in full clothes and all that stuff. In the same sort of way that you might let a kid win at a game of checkers I thought it would be empowering for kids to see a grownup getting outwitted by a couple of trickster kids.”
Sing Your Song will be out October 20th. Check out the video for “Sand Song” below.
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