Harmony Drive: ‘See You’ – much more in-depth than simple trendy pop!

Harmony Drive is a Norwegian pop-rock band made up of three members, Lars Erik Schjerpen (vocals/piano/guitar), Andre Myhren (guitar) and Vidar Braun (bass/backing vocals), who have been on the musical scene for about five years. The band’s first single, ‘Something’s Wrong’, received heavy rotation on American radio stations.

Harmony Drive just released their brand new track, ‘See You’, which was recorded at The Spot Studios, in Denver, Colorado. Drummer Dave Elitch of Mars Volta also had a hand in the recording.

It is very rare that a group, in any genre of music, can repeat the success of their debut release. The list of failures is embarrassingly long. “Metal Heads With Broken Hearts” was, and still is one of the few albums that is truly solid and enjoyable front to back.

You can throw it in, push play, and not have to worry about having to skip over songs, and in fact the songs seem to get better. So when Harmony Drive announced the release of their latest single, ‘See You’, I was hoping for something even in the same realm as their first with respect to its enjoyability and upbeat, fresh-air style.

With the new single, however, they have exceeded the mark. They have not only succeeded in proving they very well mean to stay in this business, but in distinguishing themselves from every other group out there right now. Their style is unique, eclectic and theirs alone.

Impressively, they manage very nicely to carry their one-of-a-kind sound into their new single without making it seem that you were still listening to the previous album’s songs.

Singer Lars Erik Schjerpen deserves his props for the harmony and melody he brings to the table, while musically, the sound continues down its path of being unique and tight and energetic. There’s a greater Pop sensibility about this one. The song is very breezy as far as repeat plays. It’s rather easy to get through.

The big difference is that the band sounds even more polished on this record. Which I think naturally happens if you’re really getting better and improving as artists. The production too, is certainly the best I’ve ever heard from the band, and that’s saying something considering the excellent results obtained on the previous album release.

I’d classify ‘See You’ as “alternative pop”, if I was forced to, but It has so many musical influences that it really can’t be categorized or put neatly in a box. Like the best pop music, it carries the melody to the point you can’t help but bop your head and sing along. And yet it’s much more in-depth than simple trendy pop. Simply put – it’s brilliant!