Over a closed chord strums, we’re introduced to the gravelled growl of Harrison Rimmer‘s voice as he rhythmically sings, “Lord, I pray for redemption, as I dance on the strings, and the only things that holds me is my clothes, now the south she has burned me once or twice too many times.” With this pure Americana scene set, you might jump to conclusions and presume that this young musician is based Stateside, but the surprise here is that he’s from the Northern English city of York.
Speaking about ‘The South’, he shares that this “is my attempt at combining my love of rockabilly with punk” and in particular it was inspired by Howlin Ric & The Rocketeers, who Rimmer supported at a live show. His love for the genre also extends back to childhood, when he listened to Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and “all those Sun Records guys”, as Rimmer puts it. As such, you can hear how all that child-like positivity and excitement come through in full force when that riotous guitar jangle and foot-slapping rhythm kicks in just after the 30 second mark.
Embedded within all of this rockabilly activity, Harrison Rimmer‘s voice is the sturdy rock that guides the listen through. He also uses his impactful Americana rock style vocal to express a series on thoughts on his life right now, as he explains below:
“With the lyrics I was trying to convey the feeling of writing a song and hoping that something might happen, from struggling to come up with the concept, to dreaming of success through to inspiration I wanted to honour the song writing process, whilst also referencing our dependency on phones and how we continually compare our lives with each other.”
‘The South’ is unquestionably a celebration of one artist’s love of a genre and for that reasons it’s authentic and genuine.
You can also listen to ‘The South’ in our Indie Rockers playlist.
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