Daisy Harris opens up about her intimate production style and how being self-taught influences her music

Daisy Harris has put out a slew of releases across the past year, making her discography already diverse and consistent for a relative newcomer.

She has displayed her immense range through two major EPs, ‘Final Girl’, a debut inspired by 90s shoegaze pop, and ‘Wild West’ her follow up infused with a folk-ier sound.

Harris remarks that the new track, ‘A24’, is “a return to an older sound and was all about making a heartbreak song that is also fun to listen to”.

It succeeds with the playful production – opening with an echoing vocal hint, joined quickly by a rustic sounding guitar element. 

You can hear Harris’s personal touch on each aspect of the single. This is an impressive feat; she is a proclaimed self-taught musician, opting for experimentation with instruments and sounds rather than traditional lessons. She commented on her favourite element of the creative process - “I love producing, I find recording stressful, but I could just sit and produce for hours. When I was younger, I would spend six months working on a demo because I could just revise it for so long. It feels like playing a mini-game”.

This is clear with the inclusion of the subtle buzzing of guitar strings as they are plucked, and her emotion-filled vocals showing off tiny imperfections - these stylistic choices add intimacy and charm to the song. She also pulls from a lot of her favourite artists to influence her sound. Her ability to cultivate her listening habits into personal and reflective tracks is nuanced and inspired. 

She takes a lot of inspiration from her parents - “my dad is from the midlands so when we were there we’d listen to his mixtape, which was all 90s alternative rock, like The Lemonheads, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. Now when I listen to that kind of music it makes me think of that and I can feel it creeping into my sound”. Her biggest influence is The Sundays, even highlighting their career trajectory as something she wants for herself. 

Harris is excited about the future of ‘A24’ – “I’m interested to see what details people pick up on, that and what playlists people put me on. Seeing ‘Your Eyes’ in so many playlists over the summer was such a special moment for me, when I listen to certain songs they can take me back to summer's past and now the thought of people doing that with my music makes it so special”.

Harris has a healthy relationship with her music and balancing her hectic university schedule with her hobbies – “For me, it’s not work; well it is but I don’t see it that way. A rule that I implemented with myself is that when it stops being fun, or I become frustrated, I have to stop and take a step back. Because the number one thing I promised myself is that my music would always be for me. It’s fun for me, healing for me and it’s great that I can keep creating in such a consistent way”.

Although ‘A24’ is a love song, Harris discussed how her favourite thing to write about was platonic relationships because of how fun it is – it “was so healing after a summer of writing breakup songs. There’s something so cathartic and healing about writing songs about people you love unconditionally”. 

She finds pleasure in elements beyond the music too, having created all the artwork for her previous releases digitally herself. A self-proclaimed creative who wants to dig herself into each part of the creative process – “When you do it yourself it feels like you get to build a world, feels like a game”. 

The ‘A24’ artwork was created by her school friend Emily Worms, Harris spoke about her admirably watching “her work from afar. She made magic, just as I knew she would because she’s so talented, I loved working with her”.

The new single and the rest of her discography is personal yet universal, she has a knack for telling intimate stories in a way that is accessible to all. She is excited to keep releasing music, hopefully playing some live shows next year-

“One of my favourite things is live music, opening for a band or open mics, whatever it is, is so special. It’s one of the times that I feel most relaxed because it’s a time where I can just shut everything out”.

With such a positive attitude to playing live shows, it is fair to say that we can expect to see Daisy Harris playing more shows sooner rather than later.

Jessica McCarrick 

@jessicamccarrick_

Image: ‘A24’ Official Single Cover (PRESS)