Nigel Godrich and Dhani Harrison launch their compelling new project Dragonflies with “Slower,” a cryptic, spellbinding first glimpse of their forthcoming debut album that embraces the hard-won wisdom of release through haunted vocals, handcrafted tape loops, and lush orchestration, unfolding as a psychedelic meditation on rebirth.

Stream: “Slower” – Dragonflies

Nigel Godrich and Dhani Harrison are no strangers to collaboration.

Godrich, renowned for his production work with Radiohead, R.E.M. and U2, teamed with Beck to score Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Harrison, formerly of thenewno2 and A Fistful Of Mercy, has teamed with Jeff Lynne, Wu-Tang Clan, and composer Paul Hicks for a lengthy resume of soundtrack work. Despite running in the same music circles, however, the pair have never teamed on a single project. That all changes with Dragonflies, their new band, whose upcoming debut album is slated for release September 18 via Dark Horse Records. The duo herald the flight of Dragonflies with “Slower,” their record’s lead single and opening track, accompanied by a music video animated by RUFFMERCY (Nirvana, Nas, Run The Jewels).

Built around tape loops, ‘Slower’ is a sprawling, cryptic track that draws from the well of isolation and rebirth Harrison has explored in his solo work, most recently on 2023’s Innerstanding. It was in his capacity as a sonic consultant for Innerstanding that Godrich first sowed the seeds of a true team-up with Harrison. Of the collaboration, Godrich muses, “It’s like one person throwing something in the air and the other one catching it.”

Harrison, describing the experience of ceding some creative control, adds, “[Godrich] has strong opinions about what he wants to hear, and for me it’s very humbling. That’s why it’s such a new experience.”

In a lilting, haunted tone atop a sonic bed of drum loops, Harrison ponders a relationship that may have run its course through unforgiving changes of the season:

Will we ever learn, spring to summer, fall
To winter’s cold, cold toes
Winter oh, so cold
You were everything
Dreams of everyone
‘Til the poison made its way
to the worlds you save
And it was too late
Is it too late?
Now I’ve had a taste
So I’m taking it slower

Wrestling with fate, Harrison ultimately accepts the need to let go and begin again:

Are we too far gone
‘fore the winter comes
And hearts are overrun?
I think I’m too far gone
I learn to let you go
Ones that I have known
Let the poison wash away
Then love can be reclaimed
Now I’ve had a taste
And I’m taking it slower
Some things have to break
So I’m taking it slower

The centerpieces of Harrison’s solo records have incorporated orchestral passages; hear “Admiral of Upside Down,” “ICU,” and “Wolves Around The City.” Whereas those tracks were sharpened to a razor’s edge with orchestral stabs, Godrich and arranger David Campbell lend “Slower” a lush, contemplative touch, underscoring the journey in RUFFMERCY’s video. Two hooded figures, painted in Max Ernst-esque rotoscopic flourishes, traverse a rocky landscape as they run in slow motion. The acid-washed backdrops are composited with overlaid textural film flourishes as waves crash along the shore. By the end of this trek, their heads are on fire. The analog touches in the filmmaking paired with handcrafted tape loops point to the psychedelic roots of the project.

None of Harrison’s creative choices are an accident, and the Dragonflies moniker is no exception. He is very hands-on in the selection of iconography and symbolism for his projects; in 2023, we spoke at length about the runes on the cover of Innerstanding and his role as an art director for Dark Horse:

“So, [with] my OCD, [a follow-up record] has to look as good as the original. Like the debut vinyl and the two, when you put them together they’re a set. Different. Same fonts, but different colored foiling. I’m super OCD about all that sort of stuff. Because now that I’ve been running Dark Horse for God knows how long, I got so many good artists that I get a chance to have input into the design.”

The album art features a delicate colored pencil portrait of a forest amidst a black backdrop, and Harrison and Godrich are pictured in a Magda Kuca press portrait resembling a daguerreotype of 19th century prospectors.

In selecting the name for the project, Harrison reasons, “Dragonflies are a symbol of spiritual enlightenment. When Nigel suggested the name, I was like yeah, sold, done. Whenever I see a dragonfly, it’s magical.”

On “Slower,” that magic emerges gradually. Harrison’s haunted vocal, Godrich’s handcrafted tape loops, David Campbell’s sweeping orchestration, and RUFFMERCY’s psychedelic imagery converge around the song’s central act of letting go. As the first glimpse of Dragonflies, it introduces a partnership willing to sit with uncertainty, allow old forms to break, and discover what might be reclaimed by moving at a more patient pace.

The self-titled Dragonflies releases September 18 on Dark Horse/BMG.

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Stream: “Slower” – Dragonflies

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