There's not too much public info about Honey Harper, the singer-songwriter behind "Pharaoh." I will say the track alone makes a solid first impression, all gooey and romantic and heartbreakingly huge. It reminds me of atmospheric late-’00s classics by Pure X and Girls and Cass McCombs, but also of legendary balladeers, like Cash, or Haggard, or Cline. It's as sad a song you're likely to hear this fall, a truth cemented by its intensely sluggish tempo, which makes listening feel like taking off a band-aid real slow.
In November, Montreal indie label Arbutus Records will release Universal Country, Honey Harper's first EP. "'Pharaoh' is the song that led me to make this project," the artist said in an email. "The song kept re-appearing in different forms at different times; the lyrics were written in 2008, the melody was written in 2014, it was completed in 2017. I am excited and very happy to finally share this project which has been, unbeknownst to me, a long time coming."
Tour dates:
11/7 - Berlin, Germany @ ACUD
11/10 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Die Nieuwe Anita
11/11 - Paris, France @ CMPTR MTHMTCS
12/11 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Cid
12/14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
12/15 - Montreal, Quebec @ Casa Del Popolo
12/16 - Toronto, Ontario @ Smiling Buddha
Universal Country drops November 10th on Arbutus Records
