East London based songwriter, guitarist and producer Harry Jay Steele returns with Wish For One Night, the first single taken from his forthcoming debut album, due for release this fall via eclectic audiophile label Naim Records.
Wish For One Night Steele explains, has a brooding darkness, which slips and slides into something more defiantly joyful and uplifting during the chorus. Recorded with Jordan Rakei’s co-producer and drummer Jim Macrae, the song is rhythmically complex and driving, everything was wrapped around the guitar, but the beat was essential to this tune, we spent a long time trying to create the perfect loop, using lots of sample layers and highly syncopated live parts enthuses Steele.
Forging a sound of his own, the Goldsmith Uni alumni is a master of blending his eclectic range of influences; elements of Soul, Indie, African and Electronic Music are weaved into a rich tapestry of percussive rhythms, tasteful guitar work and deft poeticism. His music is a sonically adventurous experience, a complex and layered sound palette skilfully tied around his distinctive vocals.
It’s the rhythm you notice first. The way each part interlocks, erecting a sustained groove while continually shifting, continually evolving, wrote Clash magazine in their Track of The Day feature for Reach You – Steele’s debut single – which saw the talented musician featured as Artist of The Day on the pages of Metro, who claimed it’s unusual to hear such diverse sounds on a debut record, and interviewed by Wonderland magazine for their New Noise feature. Harry Jay-Steele has also been equally well received live being touted as one of the top 7 performances of Bestival by the Huffington Post, as well as free styling with Moses Boyd on his BBC 1Xtra residency and playing a coveted support slot for Grammy nominee and soul legend, Meshell Ndegeocello.
Talking about the meaning behind the song he reveals it was written in a time of personal turmoil. I was reckoning with a deteriorating mental state and questioning whether I was losing my sense of self in the process. Who is me, the one I can’t escape, yeh he’s always there even in my sleep, better change his mind before he changes me, sings Steele with a voice capable of expressing a diverse range of feelings, from anguish and self-doubt to the sense of hope and optimism in the perpetual refrain of I wish for one night.
With Wish For One Night Harry Jay-Steele shows he is an artist capable of creating music which is as sonically rich as it is inherently effortless.
https://soundcloud.com/naimrecs/wish-for-one-night-2
