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Under Water

by Nicola Harrison

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Also includes immediate download of 10-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
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1.
Amsterdam Avenue 02:57
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2.
Too Easy 04:31
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3.
A Bridge Over Time 04:53
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4.
Might Be Love 03:16
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5.
Behind The Lens 04:23
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6.
You, Always 04:43
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7.
Weekend Fete 02:23
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8.
Goodbye 02:54
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9.
Under Water 03:04
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10.
Matilda 02:42
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about

Under Water tell the story of one girl’s search for true love.

Like all the best love stories, it’s littered with loss, lies and let-downs.

Happy endings? Forget ’em! All that you’re left with is a photo album of lonely memories. C’mon… we’ve all been there.

Harrison’s 10-song debut is tugged along by perfectly plucked acoustic guitar, while her vocals alternately soar and stumble between Kate Bush and Beth Jeans Houghton – slightly cock-eyed, but strangely welcoming.

Producer Dave Milligan – bass-player with big-in-Korea, ‘quietly intense’ indie band Arco and driving force at the front of quirky, grown-up guitar-pop band Penguin Party – adds imaginative musical layers that help steer Under Water well away from predictable folksiness.

The opening Amsterdam Avenue bears the delightfully clunky hallmarks of Jacques Brel; Weekend Fete is a twisted, modern Fairport; and A Bridge Over Time twangs and wails like Richard Hawley in a dress.

Ooh, that’s a scary thought.

2010 is the year of the female singer-songwriter…
but few of them will scratch at your soul and break your heart like Nicola Harrison.

Under Water by Nicola Harrison – another proud moment for Sitting Target!



Reviews:

After a number of encouraging new releases on the small but perfectly British label Sitting Target Music, it is now singer/songwriter Nicola Harrison’s turn to release her first album.

That is not to say Harrison is a typical artist from this over-populated genre though. Hers is a talent that seems wonderfully out of step with modern day concerns.

Although essentially a folk album, Harrison is prepared to mix tradition with her own unique sense of eeriness and the results are often inspired. The Kate Bush-like ‘Weekend Fete’ temptingly offers “a penny for my cake” which may represent remarkably good value in these hard times but its underlying suggestions reveal somewhat earthier concerns.

Harrison’s reference points are varied and unpredictable. The jangle of Cherry Red Records can be detected on the dreamy ‘Too Easy’ and also ‘This Might Be Love’, whereas there’s a Richard Hawley-style “twang” to a ‘A Bridge Over Time’; a track which skilfully combines easy going verses with an urgent chorus. Yet it’s ‘Behind The Lens’ that proves to be the masterstroke as Harrison’s pure yet haunted vocals are set to subtle echo chamber effects.

On the surface, Harrison seems to be delivering nothing new as there will be many acoustic songwriters releasing albums based on a doomed search for love. Yet there’s something genuinely otherworldly about her songs as Harrison’s wounded, vulnerable vocals float alongside some perfectly judged arrangements.

- Leonard's Lair

credits

released February 14, 2010

All songs by Nicola Harrison
except 7,9,10 by NHarrison & D J Milligan
Acoustic Guitars (1,2,5,6,8,9) and all Vocals by Nicola Harrison
Acoustic Guitars (3,4,7,8,9,10) and Other Instruments by Dave Milligan
Produced by Dave Milligan for Sitting Target Music

With love and thanks to:
Miranda Barber, Oz Smith, Jessie Kilguss, Natalie Walter, Katherine Bohanna, Charlie Winston, Daniel Pettrow, Alex Timbers, Vashti Anna, Vanessa Milligan, Neil Alcock, Jo Salisbury, John Aldington and last but by no means least my wonderful family

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Nicola Harrison Greater London, UK

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