Entering the ‘Dreambell’: Live and Local with Island Moons!

Island Moons (Brandon Harwood) stopped by Live & Local this week, ahead of the release of his debut full-length album, “Dreambell.” Follow Island Moons on Instagram. “It’s been years in the making, if not a lifetime,” Harwood says of the album – which can also be read as two EPs, the more heavily-produced “Dream” followed by the mostly acoustic “Bell.” Both sides, in different ways, capture the hazy, folky, almost psychedelic vibe that’s implicit in Harwood’s writing, songs that capture the feel of half-recalled memories. In fact some of his songs are directly about half-recalled memories – like his latest single, “Madeleine,” which was also the last track added to the album. “I knew I had four that I wanted to record (for side B), but we had five songs for side A and I kind of liked the idea of symmetry… (so) I was like, ‘what is the fifth one going to be?’” he says. “And that summer I had my high school reunion, it was my first time being back home since a classmate of ours (had) passed away, and I was at this reunion and (a friend) said something about her – and it brought to the forefront this memory that I had written a song right after she passed away. And just him mentioning that, (and) knowing that I had a recording session booked – I was like, ‘this is the perfect inspiration. This is the fifth one.’” With that final track added, “Dreambell” is now complete, with vinyl pressed by Pour House in Raleigh. (The remaining tracks on the acoustic-only side B will only be available in that vinyl form for now: Harwood says he still thinks of those tracks as demos, and he has plans to record full-band versions soon.) How does he feel, now that the full album is ready to go out into the world? “I would love to tell you that I welled up with tears and gratitude and appreciation – (but) it was this really difficult conundrum of emotions that I couldn’t even process,” he says. “Paul Simon (says) ‘the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip siding away,’ and there’s something to that. There’s this insidious side of creativity that’s like, ‘no, it’s not done yet. Don’t let it go.’ I even was like, ‘I think I’m just going to scrap this. Scrap it and let’s start over.’ I can’t believe I even thought that.” Having fought off those impulses, Harwood’s now prepared to unveil Island Moons’ first full-length LP – and he’s marking the occasion in a big way, with not one but three album-release shows in the Triangle. The first is Saturday, June 13, at Lapin Bleu in Chapel Hill; then he’ll be at Pour House in Raleigh on Wednesday, June 17, and Stanczyk’s in Durham on Thursday, June 18. As for that title? Harwood says he thinks of a “dreambell” as the opposite of an alarm, a sound that signals the beginning of a dream rather than the end. “We all know what an alarm bell is, it’s not a fun sound to hear,” he says. “(So) the concept of a dreambell was really cool to me: what if there was a sound that started your dream? I like the French interpretation of belle as beauty, I like the idea of ‘ringing a bell’ in Johnny B. Goode, or (the) Liberty Bell and freedom, or (being) ‘clear as a bell.’ That’s kind of the idea of this acoustic side too: there’s no hiding, man. These tracks were done on one track, the vocals and guitar are married together, there’s no polishing. They’re clear as a bell.” Brandon Harwood stopped by Live & Local to discuss “Dreambell” and play three songs: “Madeleine,” “The Great Blue Deep,” and one still-unrecorded song, “It’s All A Movie.” Listen: The post Entering the ‘Dreambell’: Live and Local with Island Moons! appeared first on Chapelboro.com.