After a packed 2024 that brought on the triumphant solo album Skull Dream, a pair of jazz trio albums and a new single and tour announcement from DARKSIDE, Dave Harrington has returned today with yet another new offering. This time, the indie multi-instrumentalist and producer lends his talents to Across the Horizon, a music curation series helmed by Suss’ Bob Holmes with Northern Spy Records. For his place in the eight-part program, Harrington has shared an exclusive new track titled “Cafecito Dub,” alongside a pair of new singles from artists he picked.
“Cafecito Dub (Long Version)” is at once a strong fit within Harrington’s eclectic canon of original music and a definite left turn, working the trademark quirks of his production and performance style into a dub framework. More than ever before, the artist embraces the echo effects and slinking rhythms characteristic of dub, but his composition is hardly beholden to that formula; around the three-minute mark, the last cracks of regimented percussion drift away, leaving only a shifting texture of ambient brass, keys, midi strings and subtle, twitching synths for the remaining 6 minutes of the song. The second act is familiar, yet implacable, as its elements are carefully manipulated to seem almost otherworldly, inspiring a deeply meditative listening experience.
“I really wanted to use the opportunity to be a part of this series as an artist and a curator to collaborate, so I reached out to two of my favorite artists and collaborators, Yuka Honda and Nicole McCabe,” Harrington says of the new release in an artist statement. “I’ve been lucky enough to improvise with both of them in different settings over the years but they are also both amazing producer-composers so I thought for this recording project I thought it would be interesting to have each of us contribute sounds that the others could use in their own studio/production practices. I’ve been having a summer of dub, listening to a ton and making basically only dub in my solo recordings, so I let the dub be my guide here. Working with Nicole and Yuka’s textured and inspiring sounds made it all easy–the only problem was not making a 25 min dub odyssey.”
In keeping with the format of the Across the Horizon series, Harrington’s song is packaged alongside entries from the two other artists he selected. Eucademix (Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda) provides a rich and distant guitar, saxophone and field recording stroll that erupts into a cluttered, heavy, techno-inspired barrage. McCabe stacks more expressive saxophone against a fluttering panorama of percussion and ringing bells, all of which condenses into a fading echo by the song’s conclusion.
The third dispatch from Across the Horizon is available to subscribers on Bandcamp now, as are prior entries created and curated by Mark Nelson and Luke Schneider. Harrington’s side will be released to all digital streaming platforms on December 11. For more information, visit acrossthehorizon.bandcamp.com.
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