Having left his job as a London primary school teacher and removed to the remote landscapes of New Zealand to live a frugal and solitary life, Nick E. Harris began dedicating every waking hour to homing his craft; refining his guitar playing and songwriting techniques, whilst busking to pay the bills. When he emerged again and returned to London, it was evident that this decision had paid off, and after working and recording with Ben Lovett of Communion Records, Harris released his debut album ‘Chimera’.
Since then the progressive acoustic singer-songwriter has released his second album ‘The Tall Trees’. This sees a significant development of both intricacy and style, combing beguiling vocals with a style of acoustic guitar playing that combines the old with the progressive.
Recorded entirely at night by eminent London producer Nick Trepka (Speech Debelle, Emmy the Great, Kieran Leonard) the album features a diverse orchestra of supporting instruments from accordions, horns, flutes and strings to tribal chanting and percussion.
Recently Harris has played shows with the likes of Moulettes, Rozi Plain, Dan Croll, Courtney Barnett and has been touring the UK, Germany, Italy and the festival circuit. In recent years he has been long-listed for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, with performances at Wilderness, Cambridge Folk Festival, Glastonbury and Green Man among many others, as well as playing in formidable alt-folk group ‘Patch and The Giant’.
“Beautifully etched music, as endearingly pastoral as it is emotionally gripping” – CLASH
“Nick Edward Harris commands a timeless voice and enviable storytelling songwriting” – Raw Meat
“An album that serves a mesmerising musical reminder that intricacy, minimalism and craftsmanship can stir the visceral as well as the cerebral” – Fatea
“Seriously involving lyrics washing over expansive and idiosyncratic melodies” – Folk Words
“Nick writes complex songs with thought provoking lyrics. He’s also a pretty good musician!” – Genevieve Tudor, BBC
Sign up to our monthly newsletter for the latest Nest Collective news and events