Harry Styles’ Harry’s House Covered in Full by Dave Harrington, Spencer Zahn, and Jeremy Gustin: Listen

It is one year since Harry Styles released Harry’s House, and, to celebrate, Darkside’s Dave Harrington, neoclassical composer (and Dawn Richard collaborator) Spencer Zahn, and New York drummer Jeremy Gustin have released a full-album cover, via Cascine. Titled A Visit to Harry’s House, the unlikely project came about when Zahn, after playing bass in Broadway’s Moulin Rouge, stumbled upon a swarm of hyped-up Styles fans leaving his Madison Square Garden concert. Early this year, Harrington suggested the trio record a full-album cover of some sort at his Atwater studio, and the project was born. Below, listen to the album and read an excerpt of Zahn’s statement, in which he discusses getting to know Harry’s House by transcribing its songs.

Spencer Zahn:

I was quickly struck by how interesting the harmony is across Harry’s House. Harry and the other writers are making subtle but deep choices to carry the listener through the songs. Sure there are endless pop hooks that I will probably have in my head for the rest of my life, but the harmony is where I got excited. I will spare you all the details and the finer points of using the IV chord as the I or resolving a ii-V progression to the relative minor, but I was converted into a big Harry fan quickly.

The song forms are clever, clear, and concise. The lyrics are personal, yet universal. Less diaristic and more encapsulating the feelings that we all have when we fall in love and when heartbreak hits. I suddenly felt like Harry knew my life and I knew his. My life was his muse and now his was becoming mine.

When we got into Dave’s studio in L.A., we all agreed that a playful yet respectful, and creatively divergent take on this record was the only way to cover it. Jeremy didn’t want to learn any of the songs so that his drumming, tempos, and rhythmic feels didn’t lean too closely to the original. Dave, with a 6-month-old baby, didn’t have time to learn the music and at least once was seen doing an overdub on the electric sitar while watching the baby monitor. So it fell to me to steer the ship close enough toward the north-star of Harry’s House.