Jason Hawk Harris
Thin Places
2023
Jason Hawk Harris captures the insidious nature of grief on his 2023 masterpiece, Thin Places.
Written and recorded in the aftermath of his mother’s death, it’s hard not to empathize with how painful Harris’ talent must be. What allows him to capture the darkest shadows of grief through little magical musical moments first forces him to endure his painful observations himself, before he turns them into palatable songs that let us feel those feelings with a degree of separation that Harris is not given.
And my God, those observations are devastating. The way a storm washes away the golden trail of his mother’s ashes and leave him hopelessly longing to see that golden wake again on “Jordan and the Nile,” which also captures the cruel continuance of everyday life symbolized by the passing interstate traffic as he stands by his mother’s grave. The need for a get out of jail free card from any given social situation so you don’t start ugly crying (“I’m Gettin’ By.”) The accidental falling in love as a side effect of needing to feel physical pleasure just as a reminder you’re alive (“So Damn Good.”)
And most powerfully, the sheer absurdity of sitting through an Easter Sunday sermon while your mother lies dead and cold in a morgue, perhaps in a drawer or perhaps in a table, primped and preened but “she don’t look any less dead.” That’s a vignette from the album’s strongest track, “Bring Out the Lilies,” which finds Harris barely resisting the temptation to point out that Jesus may have come back to life after three days, but every one of his followers since has stayed dead.
The album’s revelatory closer, “White Berets,” finds his own body revitalized after death, but the joyful celebration soon fades back into the lonesome strings and piano of “Jordan and the Nile,” a segue so seamless that if you play the album on repeat, it begins again without interruption. That final production flourish sends us back to the beginning to feel all these terrible feelings again, because Thin Lines understands that grief is eternal, sneaking back up on us just when we thought we were moving on.
Additional Listening:
- Harris’ assured debut, Love in the Dark, showcases his already fully formed songwriting talent
- A delicious one off cover of “Portion for Foxes” with Lydia Loveless
- His recent EP, Breakup Songs are Love Songs Too, Vol. 1, seems effortless in its excellence, until you really listen closely to how sophisticated his song structures and vocal performances are
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Grady Smith convinced me to purchase his 2019 debut “Love in the Dark.”
A promo piece from a 2019 First Avenue & 7th Street Entry show in Minneapolis wrote, “With an unlikely background, Harris is a singer/guitarist/songwriter who walks his own line, one that touches on Lyle Lovett’s lyrical frankness, John Moreland’s punk cerebralism and Judee Sill’s mysticism and orchestral sensibility. There’s even the literary and sonic audacity of an early Steve Earle, an outlaw unafraid to embrace harmony.”
I find it fascinating Harris is formally trained in classical music and was wait-listed for a masters music program at UCLA.
Harris is as mysterious and inviting an artist as there is right now for me.
I have absolutely no excuse for not having listened to this album yet.