Harry Parsons - Eden EP

April 20, 2018 - &Friends

Harry Parsons’ Eden EP has the disco you need to properly kick off the summertime. Listening is taking a shot of fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice while staring at the solar eclipse—dangerous and nutritious.

Eden contains one track, two versions. Two shots of good stuff. Two chances to catch disco fever. The most striking difference between ‘Eden (original mix)’ and ‘Eden (Theo Kottis Remix)’ is the speed. The latter is faster than the former. The EP seems to be a strictly utilitarian vessel for serving one club song to the deejays. It’s like the cassette tape I owned as a child with 5 different variations of the ‘Macarena.’

My favorite part of ‘Eden’ is the undulating bass. When the bass swoops in and out, spines tingle. It’s delicious! And the urgency of the syncopated synth beat is universally impossible for bodies to ignore. We’re just puppets on strings. This is the manifestation of dancing. The whimsy of the “shoo-be-doo”’s takes us back to what we now imagine were simpler times. Such relentless nostalgic rhetoric! Such surprising relevance to the modern context!

Also, titling a track ‘Eden’ and sampling vocals that sing a love anthem to America raises questions. Are we supposed to dance to this or laugh at it? Oh, wait, never-mind. I’m already dancing. I’ll stop thinking now. 

Scotland’s Theo Kottis has been making the rounds this year with several projects underway and an album in the works. His remix of ‘Eden’ provides an alternative way to play, with a faster tempo and crowd-pleasing build-ups paired with loop combinations that create different energy. 

This is an EP to take home for your strobe-lit backyard potlucks, your sparkly midnight clambakes, your impromptu starlight promenades under the neighbor’s lighthouse. Happy birthday to you! The memories keep on making and the ecstasy of fierce musical flavor never ends.

UK-based Harry Parsons has built his burgeoning career on the disco bedrock. And I think he’s lots of fun. He is challenging to find online stateside in the shadows of another Harry Parsons with a web presence who sings indie folk music, so here is a tip. Eden EP was released on April 20, 2018, on Monki’s new &Friends label. Check it out. ☔

Eden, an album by Harry Parsons on Spotify