Friday, October 31, 2014

Harpoon Forever The American Flag EP on Sweaters & Pearls Records


A while back I covered a release on Bleeding Gold Records from Harpoon Forever. Immediately it reminded me of my formative years of seven inch single purchases from Pavement, The Strapping Fieldhands and Silver Jews among others. It's not that I want to compare Harpoon Forever to any of these guys and set the bar impossibly high, I just got the sense that Alex Goldstein wasn't chasing any current trend, just playing a laid back thoughtful indie rock that I didn't hear much of anymore. We ended up talking after that post about a lot of things including this idea for a seven inch EP of four songs called "American Flag" that Alex had felt always belonged together on vinyl. Alex had thought out every detail of the package and I agreed to put it out on my own Sweaters & Pearls label.

Once we put together the sleeve, a portrait of Alex by Derrick Kpeli I contacted Albany artist Travis Kostell to get started on alternate silkscreened matchbook covers for the first 50 and you can see photos of his process here.

The project has finally come together and I hope the rest of the stuff that goes along with the music carries some of that perfect 7" forever sound that I fell for.

Listen to a conversation Alex and I had about the record:


You can also stream the entire release below:



Thanks.

Jason

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