Dhani Harrison –
INNERSTANDING (2023)
Album Review

Hello readers,

The last album with Dhani Harrison that I remember listening to was from a band called the thenewno2 and their album, thefearofmissingout (2012) after Josh had clued me to its existence by giving me a cd copy of the album. After listening to thefearofmissingout, I went backwards and listened to their debut album, You Are Here (2008). I also listened to the album As I Call You Down (2010).  This was put out by Fistful of Mercy, the supergroup with Dhani, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur. All three albums contributed to my thought that, Dhani Harrison is a talented guitarist, good vocalist and that those albums were a decent start to his own music career.

Since then, I’ve haven’t kept up with him, but Dhani’s kept sharing his creativity artistry and vision with us by composing Beautiful Creatures (2013). He and his scoring partner Paul Hicks (also a thenewno2 band member) scored the Sundance Award-winning MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. (2018) and received an International Documentary Association (IDA) Award nomination for “Best Music Score Award.” Dhani has also scored R.Z.A.’s Cut Throat City (2020), Obey Giant – The Story of Shepard Fairey (2017), Amazon’s original series Good Girls Revolt (2015-2016), Showtime’s White Famous (2017), and the HBO docuseries, The Case Against Adnan Syed (2019). Dhani’s also collaborated with a combo platter of insanely talented and diverse artists including supergroup Wu-Tang Clan (“The Heart Gently Weeps”), Annie Lennox (“Isn’t It a Pity”), Pearl Jam (“Rain”), Prince (“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”), and Regina Spektor (“Live a Lie”) to name a few.

On Friday, October 20th, 2023, Dhani Harrison’s first album since IN///PARALLEL (2017) will be released via H.O.T Records/BMG in digital format. This new album, a 10-track delightfully titled INNERSTANDING seems to continue Dhani’s music evolution. A great place to purchase and listen to INNERSTANDING is here: https://dhaniharrison.lnk.to/DhaniHarrisonPR

But Dhani doesn’t do it alone, featured on INNERSTANDING are a stellar, well contributing cast including, Blur‘s multi-intstrumentalist Graham Coxon, The Duke Spirit‘s vocalist Liela Moss, and Australian born singer, songwriter Mereki. Graham plays saxophone on “Damn That Frequency” and guitar on four other songs on this album. Mereki, Liela and Graham all add positively to the album and make it a even better listening experience.

Before I get into my thoughts, here’s an album trailer that was released on Dhani’s YouTube page (all credits and rights to him):

Here’s the first single off the album, titled:  “Damn That Frequency” (all credits and rights to him):

All that being said, here are my thoughts on INNERSTANDING. Overall, it’s an excellent album. As a listener, you definitely will hear signs of his style from earlier albums and find that INNERSTANDING fits in his discography and even complements his other work. Within songs, there is a good balance of brilliantly catchy lyrical refrains, beautiful instruments, well-placed beats and a good flow from one song to the next.

The opening song, “Dangerous Lies,” establishes the mood immediately with its piano intro, the robotic, dark vocals and lyrics, spoken like a spiel combining to create a bleak and monotonous mood. The second song, “New Religion” flips the previous mood on its head, offering a more upbeat tempo and catchy refrain. “Ahoy There!” is the third song, and it starts off with a different drumbeat that quickly becomes a heartbeat. Vocalist Liela Moss drops in with beautiful, haunting vocals that pair well with the guitar chords and drum effects chosen. “La Siren,” the fourth song on INNERSTANDING, opens from afar with some distance sonically, and to me that sonic contrast is beautifully dissociative. Then the song becomes ambient as the vocals kick in, and the song becomes futuristic as the tempo and beat progress and then ends with a heartbeat.

The fifth song, “Damn The Frequency” was included in the above video. I enjoyed the piano, strings, futuristic beat and catchy refrain. The next song, “The Dancing Tree,” is perfectly named to me as I found it the most danceable song on the album and with good lyrics as well. There is also a superb balance between Dhani and vocalist Mereki alternating verses. She really shines. Song seven, “Right Side of History” opens with a commanding chant at the beginning before the song transitions to an uptempo beat. Song eight, “Ghost Garden” features Dhani in a higher pitch than anywhere else before in the album, resetting the vocal tone for the remainder of the album. The ninth song, “I.C.U.” features a choral addition which I loved. The chorus really pairs exceptionally well with Dhani’s vocals and the beat. The closing song, “Wolves Around The City” had a great opening, build up and refrain. Such a repeatable phrase. Vocalist Mereki truly shines.

INNERSTANDING gets a 4.5 out of 5 Scum Drops from me.  Worth listening to and addition to your collection! Go and check it out for yourself.

INNERSTANDING track list [time]

1. Dangerous Lies [5:08]
2. New Religion (featuring Graham Coxon) [3:57]
3. Ahoy There!  (featuring Liela Moss) [6:37]
4. La Sirena [5:21]
5. Damn That Frequency [5:15]
6. The Dancing Tree (featuring Mereki) [6:17]
7. Right Side Of History [5:17]
8. Ghost Garden [5:48]
9. I.C.U [3:54]
10. Wolves Around The City (featuring Mereki) [6:31]

Vinyl lovers, a neon yellow vinyl edition will be released February 9, 2024! Pre-save and pre-order via any store you can think of HERE.   

Dhani’s site:  https://www.dhaniharrison.com/

Thank you for reading and supporting good music.

Until next time,

Alex

Alex M Theel

Co-Founder, Reviewer, Content Creator, Business side, Editor at Scummy Water Tower Productions | Web

Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com