Artist Spotlight_ Harrison _ CanCulture

11/18/2015 Artist Spotlight: Harrison | CanCulture
http://www.canculture.com/2015/07/28/artist-spotlight-harrison/ 1/6
(https://www.facebook.com/canculture) (https://twitter.com/canculturemag)
(http://instagram.com/canculture) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/60641951@N05/)
(http://youtube.com/user/canculture) (mailto:submissions@canculture.com)
(http://www.canculture.com/feed/)
Welcome back, we've missed you.
DISCOVER CANADIAN ARTS AND CULTURE
JULY 28, 2015
Photo taken by Maddee Ritter.
Artist Spotlight: Harrison
Back in high school, Harrison Robinson and his best friend Seamus Hamilton didn’t believe in pigeonholing

themselves in particular social scenes. Together, they roamed the streets of Toronto; mixing with all kinds of people.
This was when they started experimenting with beatmaking, “It was a hobby. Seamus and I would mess around with
software in an apartment above a bar.”
A lot has changed in such a short time. That hobby has expanded into a recognizable production style, and the now
20-year-old Harrison is one of the most buzzed about producers in the city. And just as Harrison evaded the social
categorization that typically comes with high school, his music defies the typical idea of genre. In other words, it’s all
over the place.
Harrison’s synth heavy, sometimes cutesy and sample-based production has left many writers struggling to define
exactly what he sounds like, but he doesn’t necessarily want a rigid definition. “I just want to say I make electronic
music. I’ve seen a few (reviews) that are calling it future pop and I’ve also seen the word kawaii a lot … I don’t know
about that,” he muses. “When I’m in a happy place, I make happy music and I don’t mind being labelled as that.”
His first EP, Colors (http://www.canculture.com/2015/05/04/album-review-colors-by-harrison/) was released in
April and despite the colossal achievement, he was having an awful day. He wasn’t able to fully grasp what he calls,
“one of the most exciting moments in my career so far,” until things really sunk in.
Earnest as ever, Harrison wants people to have a positive experience while listening to Colors: “I want people to
associate it with a good time in their lives. I want people to listen to it and for it to cheer them up.”
For over half of the songs on the EP, he worked closely with singer Maddee, a frequent collaborator and surprise gem
of his live shows. He champions her, gushing about her talent saying, “Maddee gets the sound I’m going for.” The EP
has a duality that has songs on opposite ends of a spectrum, but that’s what Harrison wanted. “Making the EP was a
serious project, and I just wanted to do my best and not have it sound the same the whole way through, which
apparently annoyed a few people.”
Harrison is having fun with experimentation, saying that as a producer, he “can’t stick to one niche-y sound.”
Starting with very sample-based tracks released on Soundcloud, he’s evolved and come into his signature synth-
based, loopy electro pop.
After three months of college in 2014, he signed a deal with Last Gang Music making had become a full-time gig
which he’s still slightly in awe of: “I’m so happy I get to do this as a job. It’s insane.”
The producer has had a stellar three months since his EP dropped with sets at Canadian Music Week, AGO First
Thursdays, NXNE and Bestival. The newly imported British festival was not only his first time playing a festival but
his first time going to one. Harrison opened for Willow Smith during NXNE, alongside Bizzarh, inflecting his wide
range DJ set with the Skype incoming call tone, Legend of Zelda soundbites and some early 2000s throwback R&B.
He also played the Collectif Nude and East Room’s NXNE block party with other key players in Toronto’s music
scene: Prince Innocence, Happy Boy Tona and Drew Howard.
Harrison is friends with Canada’s most well-known nice boy producer Ryan Hemsworth but is tired of people
equating them to each other. “We don’t have the same sound,” he says. They hang out whenever Hemsworth is in
town and post inside jokes on Twitter like a teenage couple.

@ryanhemsworth likes Chingy.
1:40 AM - 14 Jul 2015
16

Harrison
@prodbyharrison
Follow

16
In his free time, Harrison jokingly states he’s usually feeling sad, drinking excessively, trying to do push ups and
enjoying long walks on the beach.
Speaking with the typical frankness of an adolescent, he calls video games “the best escape from reality;” his tracks
are littered with samples from some of his favourites. As for the game he loves most, he struggles to choose just one,
starting with the classic Super Smash Bros, moving on to Grand Theft Auto and settling on Oblivion. He’s been
introducing more live, acoustic instruments to his music and samples collected from walks through his
neighbourhood but says he’ll always use video game sounds. “They’ll be more subtle though — like just one or two
Yoshi’s.”
In a time where it’s much cooler to exude a bored nonchalance about everything you do, Harrison makes himself
accessible with authenticity, effortlessly playing on the line between cutesy and moody. Whether it’s at a live show or
on Instagram, Harrison lets people into his world.
Kelsey Adams (mailto:kelsey@canculture.com) is one of CanCulture’s fashion editors and is currently studying
journalism at Ryerson University.
This article was edited by Kevin Siazon (mailto:kevin@canculture.com) and Linda Nguyen
(mailto:linda@canculture.com), CanCulture’s co-editors-in-chief.
by Kelsey Adams
Music

Opening for @DIIV, MTL's @nojoy left the audience
w/ an otherworldly feeling at @the_hoxton
canculture.com/2015/11/16/no-…
pic.twitter.com/kd24hSVj5S
CanCulture
@canculturemag
Expand
From @_NARCES to @beaufillefsn, this season's
@WMCFashionWeek foreshadowed Spring '16
trends canculture.com/2015/11/14/tor…
pic.twitter.com/KXydOIMYNV
CanCulture
@canculturemag
8h
15 Nov
Tweets Follow
Tweet to @canculturemag
Meta
Log in
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
WordPress.org

Make: A WordPress template by The Theme Foundry
(https://www.facebook.com/canculture) (https://twitter.com/canculturemag)
(http://instagram.com/canculture) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/60641951@N05/)
(http://youtube.com/user/canculture) (mailto:submissions@canculture.com)
(http://www.canculture.com/feed/)

Artist Spotlight_ Harrison _ CanCulture

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (16)

Destaque

Destaque (20)

Semelhante a Artist Spotlight_ Harrison _ CanCulture

Semelhante a Artist Spotlight_ Harrison _ CanCulture (17)

Mais de Kelsey Adams

Mais de Kelsey Adams (8)

Artist Spotlight_ Harrison _ CanCulture