Asthmatic Harp - Limbo
Asthmatic Harp is the musical moniker of Glasgow based songwriter and composer Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones. Asthmatic Harp is synonymous with a sound that manages to be comforting, folksy, eerie and personal, all at once.
Born in Denmark before moving to the UK, Hannah began performing on the London music scene with her debut EP Lost Astronaut in 2015.
Asthmatic Harp releases new single Limbo today, Wednesday 29 July 2020. The song is a quirky catchy indie folk song based on a poem by Manchester based queer writer and performer Roma Havers.
The two artists Asthmatic Harp and Roma Havers first met in the basement of a Nottingham pub where they were both performing at a Spoken Word event.
The poem itself was written in a week, mostly overnight in a bath in Hull (it was one of those days). Limbo balances on a knife edge between ‘I need you’ and ‘I don’t need you’. It portrays the dizzying limbo between comfort and pain in a break-up between lovers.
When asked about the inspiration behind putting music to Limbo, Hannah said:
When I heard Roma perform her poem Limbo I was completely blown away. It was strong, raw and fragile all at the same time and I knew that I had to put music to it. After swapping a ‘CD for a poetry zine’ I hunkered down in my North London flat and straightway wrote the music.
2020 has been a busy year for Asthmatic Harp as Limbo follows latest releases Bird of Paradise and To The Boats that were both aired on Tom Robinsons After Hours show on BBC6 Music and on Danish National Radio.
The release preempts the EP, Things We Learned To Live With, that is planned for release in Autumn 2020. The EP is a collection of intricately arranged contemporary folk ballads, sharing musical language with artists such as Regina Spektor, This Is The Kit and Laura Marling.
Limbo is a complete contrast to previous release To The Boats, it’s an uplifting gentle indie pop track, it is driven by a great melody created with the combination of guitars, piano, synth and percussion, all beautifully put together like a magical patchwork quilt.
It’s a poem I wasn’t familiar with but it translates to a song perfectly and as always Hannah delivers a gorgeous vocal, turning this piece of poetry into a song for the times.
I love the verse “And if this is a kind of ending let it be a kind one, this terrible birthday present, just a small ruck of ice-shavings after ungrateful slice of blade, gift wrapped in Mondays”.
And the chorus is definitely catchy and will have you nodding your head and singing along to the lyrics “I wanted to hold your hand but I was so far away, and I was distracted by the way your lower lip was surplus to your moon face,
you articulate mime, must you pale that way like a slowly freezing pond?”.
Limbo is another outstanding track from Asthmatic Harp and it really highlights the versatility of Hannah as she takes the indie vibe of this track in her stride and confidently demonstrates an ability to cross genres.
As a relatively new artist to me I really can’t give Asthmatic Harp enough platitudes, I’m loving the use of unorthodox instruments to produce brilliant contemporary music.
Roll on the release of the EP later in the year and the resumption of live music as Asthmatic Harp will be a must see.
As well as Hannah the track also features ‘Modern Vampires’ Ruth Shave (synth/vocals), Heather Ryall (clarinet), Kendall Perry (percussion) and Julia Koelmans (piano).
Give Limbo a stream now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/40GNWlC3h36EW6uYGw2WWQ?si=wJshPW-YSUOsr4dVvmxevw
Asthmatic Harp can be followed on their Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify pages:
https://www.asthmaticharp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/asthmaticharp
https://instagram.com/asthmaticharp?igshid=1l2nlpo3u0mkc
https://twitter.com/asthmaticharp
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Q4CFZat9gxGJFkTT6VoC9?si=SNXJDtV0S1qasAMimr7mhA
