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Former Q and Not U member Harris Klahr has got George Harrison on his mind. And not just because if you say Klahr’s full name really, really fast, it almost sounds like you’re talking about the quiet Beatle.
“They’re just songs,” he says of the first side of his new 12-inch record as Clear Band, which he’s releasing on his recently minted label, New Editions. “But people have told me they sound like George Harrison solo—-his ’70s solo material.”
Then again, he says: “The second side is a 12-minute new age jam. I really like that juxtaposition of pop material and something other—-it’s like sweet and salty together.”
Harris, who’s based in New York now and plays bass for The Rapture, performed almost every instrument on the Clear Band 12-inch. He says he drew the tracks from a deep well.
“I’ve been home-recording a lot since Q and Not U split,” says Klahr, who’s also released music as President. “I’ve created such a backlog of material, so I decided to create a label, make up fake band names, and start putting it out.”
Expect a couple of more Klahr solo projects in the nearish future, plus releases from Molly Schink, formerlyof Out Hud, and Rafael Cohen, formerly of El Guapo and Supersystem. Klahr will also release music by a collaborative project involving himself, Cohen, and Josh Blair of the experimental D.C. outfit Orthrelm.
But why release all of this himself? “When you’re doing home recordings, it seems really selfish to ask someone to spend their money to put it out,” he says. “Plus, nobody’s been banging on my door like, ‘I gotta release your records!’ So I figure now’s the time.”
LISTEN: Clear Band: “Good Fortune”
[audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2010/10/Good-Fortune.mp3]Order the Clear Band 12-inch here. (Only 300 copies!) Hat tip: Leitko.