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The Friends Of Thimblemill Library are pleased to welcome back Native Harrow from USA with their 'Laurel Canyon-style folk rock with shades of Joni Mitchell' (The Times **** review of Happier Times), following their recent main stage debut at Moseley Folk Festival.

Note that this will be a mainly seated show in the upstairs function room at The Bear Tavern.



NATIVE HARROW

?I dug myself out from the well to make Closeness a record about love?, professes Devin Tuel, from the Eastern Pennsylvania home she shares with her partner, Stephen Harms. Together the two make up the folk rock outfit, Native Harrow. ?When I sat down to begin what would become Closeness I felt that above all, I wanted to make it clear that, while the clock is moving, we can hold onto one another and maybe there will be tears but there will also be laughter.?


Closeness , the fourth LP from Native Harrow, exists at the intersection of two winding roads; time and motion. The album opens like the shot of a cannon with ?Shake?, a rocking confessional about riding anxiety?s elevator. If this is any indication of where the band have been since last we heard from them (2019?s, Happier Now ), time has moved on and with it life has evolved and unfolded.

Time moves away, takes what it can carry ... I have seen how it ends, thru the edges of time ? Time turns away so quickly, quiet as it goes ? It?s the same every time ? Time?s gonna get harder but you?ve gotta carry on ? Watch the weeks go by, my how the years have gone by ? I can?t quiet my head of the sounds of time rolling by ? From the winding years, there is a season for all to unfold ? Time moves forward, and I gave up that chase.

Today, the band are reflecting on not only this new record but how now, months after its recording wrapped, it feels ever prescient. Tuel takes us back to when she was writing the album and the early days of Closeness ? conception, ?For this record I really wanted to tell stories. Our stories from the last two years, from the weeks leading up to recording, tales from other lifetimes, and stories from where I fear this world is heading.?

When it came time to record the songs, the band decamped to Reliable Recorders in Chicago, IL to once again work with drummer and engineer, Alex Hall. The 10 tracks of Closeness were recorded over two sessions; three December days in the dying light of 2019 and the first three new days of January 2020. Similar to the process of making Happier Now , the sessions were firstly focused on documenting trio performances that captured Tuel?s master vocal takes live in the room, guitar in hand, with Harms on bass and Hall on drums.

Closeness elaborates on the group?s radiant warmth and timeless nostalgia with the inclusion of new sounds and experiences. The combustible fuzz-driven opener ?Shake? gives way to slices of 70s FM groove (?The Dying of Ages? and the desert funk of ?If I Could?), 60s art pop (?Even Peace? and the expansive orchestral ?Sun Queen?), and the kind of graceful folk (?Smoke Burns?) and folk soul (the compassionate conviction of ?Carry On?) the band is best known for. The intricate polyrhythms and grinding Moog synthesizer (?Same Every Time?), the fully realized vintage jazz combo (?Turn Turn?), and the exquisite piano ballad (the penultimate ?Feeling Blue?) provide glimpses down previously unexplored streets and find the band stretching out and confidently illuminating their expansive aspirations.

?Laurel Canyon-style folk rock with shades of Joni Mitchell ?????  THE TIMES

"East Coast duo summons the spirit of bygone folk-soul - Singer and guitarist Devin Tuel resides in Upstate New York, though her spiritual home is California, specifically boho Laurel Canyon at the turn of the ?70s. Alongside multi-instrumentalist Stephen Harms, Tuel records as Native Harrow, her wondrous voice evoking both Judee Sill and early Joni Mitchell at their most wistful, particularly on ?Can?t Go On Like This? and ?Hung Me Out To Dry?. The use of vintage gear adds weight to the sensory impression of another era, as the duo (plus co-producer Alex Hall) craft timeless folk-rooted confections and, on the organ-fired ?Something You Have?, Muscle Shoals-like- Southern soul. ? (ROB HUGHES, UNCUT MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019 PRINT ISSUE

?Set of disarming, powerful reflections on love and life... timeless melodies and warm arrangements of guitar and percussion ensure an intimacy and immediacy that?s impossible to escape. ?????  ISLINGTON GAZETTE
??Can?t Go On Like This? calls to mind the folk-pop giants of yesteryear, but vocalist and guitarist Devin Tuel?s flowy, spiritual voice is timeless, and its fluttering beauty will spark a lump in your throat. Wrapped around a general sense of self-doubt are discernible tones of gentle warmth and humble charm, and its healing qualities shouldn?t be underestimated.? LIZZIE MANNO, PASTE MAGAZINE

?Razor-sharp folk rock? MOJO

?This is a captivating, almost mesmeric album of the highest quality...the excellent ?Something You Have? is gospel-tinged while both ?Blue Canyon? and the title track ?Happier Now? could have been recorded by a young Joni Mitchell. 8/10?  AMERICANA UK

?Occasionally an artist jumps out for the crowd as something special. Enter singer-songwriter Native Harrow, real name Devin Tuel? A beautiful country-folk-pop album. 8/10? DAILY ECHO

?The two members of Native Harrow revisit the twilight twang and vintage vibes of the 1970s Laurel Canyon folk scene with this softly strummed ballad. Don?t let the optimistic title fool you; ?Happier Now? finds singer Devin Tuel standing her ground and embracing her own melancholia, while bandmate Stephen Harms chimes in with major 7 chords and unhurried percussion.? ROBERT CRAWFORD, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

?It?s hard to be utterly timeless and refreshingly original, but Native Harrow manages it with ease.?  FOLK RADIO

?The band?s new Happier Now feels much more in the here, in the now?sort of. Sure, points of reference include mid-70s Joni (?How Do You Do Things?), the gospel-leaning side of The Band (?Something You Have?), and the most upbeat Fairport Convention moments (?Can?t Go on Like This?), but their music is not frozen in the distant past by any means. Frontperson Devin Tuel has a soul-filled voice and a perspective that considers the world surrounding her through the lens of what came before and led us to this point ? whether it be her childhood informing her adult emotional state, or the music of another generation rippling into her own.? JOHN VETTESE, WXPN THE KEY

?Gorgeous folk and Americana tinged sounds? Something You Have is a wondrously swoonsome ode.? RECORD OF THE DAY

?The album has a cool Greenwich Village vibe to it so check it out if the likes of Fred Neil is the bag you?re in.? BLABBER ?N? SMOKE

?A potent folk rocker with old bones. There is a sense of Americana, of 60?s protest songs, or people of all colors making something happen, of Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny.? ROBB DONKER, AMERICAN PANCAKE

?A dazzling work of dreamy folk that enchants through Tuel?s captivating honeyed voice & engrossing songwriting.?  ALBUM OF THE WEEK, RESIDENT BRIGHTON

?A wonderful record, a brilliant talent, a real storyteller and a wonderful songwriter.? CHARLIE ASHCROFT, AMAZING RADIO

?The band have really hit their stride here, coming into an even more soulful folk style, exhibited on ?Something You Have? by roiling organ and Devin Tuel?s serene vocals.? AMERICAN STANDARD TIME

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Thimblemill Road,

Smethwick,

West Midlands,

England,

B67 5RJ.