Melbourne singer/songwriter Harrison Storm takes us track-by-track through his achingly vulnerable, hauntingly beautiful debut album ‘Wonder, Won’t You?’ – an intimate and unabridged indie folk diary of raw human experience.
for fans of Dustin Tebbutt, Novo Amor, Haux
Stream: “Warm a Cold Heart” – Harrison Storm
You’re never alone with your emotions. We all experience suffering, and it’s okay to feel them and reach out. That’s the main thing: People aren’t alone with what they’re feeling.
Listening to Harrison Storm’s debut LP is like having a stranger whisper all their secrets into your ear; by the time he’s done, he’s no longer a stranger, but a familiar friend: Someone you can easily understand and even connect with, because they’ve shared so much of themselves – their truths, their haunts, their hopes and dreams – with you. The same can be said of Wonder, Won’t You?, Storm’s hauntingly beautiful album: One littered with candid confessionals, emotional reckonings, honest reflections, and heartfelt meditations pulled from the singer/songwriter’s everyday life. A contemplative, cathartic journey into the artist’s mind, body, and soul, Wonder, Won’t You? is an intimate and unabridged indie folk diary of raw human experience.
Do I fight or help untie
Your restless mind that tries to keep it all in?
All your life you’ve stepped inside
Someone’s line that won’t let your heart win
So go ahead and make your stand
Get up and throw away your plans
Try to open
In times that you were feeling low
Remember that world still showed
You were something
All I want to know from love
Is how to warm a cold heart
All I want to know from love
Is how to warm a cold heart
– “Warm a Cold Heart” – Harrison Storm
Released January 12, 2024 via Nettwerk Music Group, Wonder, Won’t You? is the long-awaited full-length statement from one of the most exciting voices in the indie folk genre today.
And what a statement it is: Eight years and five EPs into his career, Harrison Storm invites audiences everywhere to join him on a deeply introspective journey of inward connection. Produced by Australian indie folk veteran Dustin Tebbutt (who himself is no stranger to Atwood’s pages), Wonder, Won’t You? is at once expansive and insular: An emotive ten-song journey aching with glowing acoustic guitars, colorful, subtle sonic beds, and Storm’s own gentle, glistening, shiver-inducing voice.
This album is a long time coming for Storm, in more ways than one. “I actually never thought I would do an album,” he admits. “Releasing EPs was something that made sense to my lifestyle at the time and doing something different didn’t feel like it was ever going to exist. But something changed, as it always does, and here we are. I look forward to making my next album already!”
Storm has always been keenly aware of music’s therapeutic powers, having grown up listening to artists like City and Colour, Angus Stone, and Jeff Buckley, all of whom helped him gain perspective and understanding throughout his own early years.
“They were singing about things that were almost taboo in my everyday life,” he reflects. “Hearing these men sing about their feelings really struck a nerve with me. It felt very refreshing.”
The songs he wrote for Wonder, Won’t You? carry that same wide-eyed and visceral weight; he recalls studio sessions that ranged from laughter and joy to serious and concentrating as, tucked away in Tebbutt’s cozy studio in the back of a coffee roastery in Melbourne, he unpacked life’s little moments and memories filled with meaning.
It’s hard to put into words
The years that have gone by
But the thing that’s still inside me
Still wants to untie
My father’s getting older
And my friends are moving on
My mother I have told her
She’s still the only one
You were there
So I was fine
Everything did make sense in good time
Tebbutt encouraged Storm to stay true to himself, keeping his songs and his vision for the songs a number one priority as they slowly brought each diary-like entry to life.
“It’s funny, it’s not until I’ve had the album done for a solid amount of time now, I can truly reflect on its meaning as a whole,” Storm tells Atwood Magazine. “I’m not sure if I can comment on the story of the record as a whole, because it would be to comment on the story of my life the past 1-3 years. But it does feel like that. And maybe that’s the story? A record that is a true reflection of aspects of my experience that have made its way into songs. And to me that’s really meaningful in its own way. It might [also] introduce a softer side of my music and artistry to people who haven’t heard my music before. Of course, it is a curated selection of songs that represent a time and place, a slice of who I am creatively. I hope people can connect with this.”
“For me, music is a lot about self-discovery and honesty,” he adds, sharing a bit of his own artistic approach. “My stories have a lot to do with connection and connecting with myself, but also really trying to connect with the world. Growing up, I could never really find my place or fit in – and that’s me being super overly sensitive, which I think is a good thing. When I write a song, it helps me realize that all these emotions and learnings are just part of the human experience, and that it’s okay to have those heavy and introspective thoughts.”
Storm describes his album as a journey – one that is both personal and expanding. The title, he says, reflects an aspect of the way he looks at life: Wonder, Won’t You? is as much a question as much as it is a statement, inviting all of us to join Storm and break down our walls, just as he does the same in song.
“It’s a philosophy of mine, almost,” he explains. “To continue to wonder. To have curiosity on all parts of yourself, on life and the things going on around you. To have that slight push towards finding things out, even if they’re difficult and uncomfortable. I recently heard an amazing quote that speaks to the title of the album in some ways. I might be paraphrasing, but it’s along the lines of, ‘The creative adult is the child who survived.’ And I try to hold onto that as the years roll on.”
Storm sets the scene with the softly cinematic and soul-stirring “Warm a Cold Heart,” the album’s breathtaking lead single.
Originally release back in April 2023, it’s a tender and heartfelt confessional full of sweet indie folk sound and unadulterated vulnerability; a heart-on-sleeve reverie conveyed through wondrous, soothing music meant to light a fire in our dark and cold moments.
“It’s a song about being kinder to yourself and belief in the good parts of who you are,” Storm shares. “It’s the kind voice on your shoulder, the one gently whispering into your ear to keep going and to open your heart up to the world. To throw away and let go of the parts of you that are holding you back from becoming who you want to be. Kind of like the dream version of yourself. Relaxing into your body and a sense that everything is going to be okay.”
“The lens the song sees through is the lens I needed after some darker years,” he continues. “It’s become a friend in a way and has pulled me through times where I needed to connect with myself the most. I wanted this song to be the first I shared amongst the new collection because it has had the biggest impact on me personally and I hope it does with others too.”
All it takes is yesterday’s growing pains
To learn what you’re missing
You can waste another day in endless ways
It’s time to move on
Now it’s time to make a change
Find the hope in every stage
You’re alright here
‘Cause every little made up thought
That doesn’t help you move along
Ohh, you can leave them
All I want to know from love
Is how to warm a cold heart
All I want to know from love
Is how to warm a cold heart
Not only is this the record’s opener, but it also continues to be a personal favorite for Storm – speaking to who he is, and how he expresses himself best through his art.
“Out of all the songs, ‘Warm a Cold Heart’ speaks to me the most. I feel like it really represents where I am now and where I have been in the past year or two with my personal journey, looking after my mental health. I have suffered with a lot of anxiety throughout my life; I’ve done a lot of work on that and just taking care of myself. This song is really that kind part of my personality that I want to nurture. I really wanted that energy, and the energy that song gives me, to be the first taste of the album, because I know that there are moments in the others that are heavy, and I want to start with something more positive and light.”
Faithful to life’s own powerful pendulum swings, Wonder, Won’t You? soars high and sweeps low as Storm expresses and explores feelings of belonging (“My Way Home”), desire (“This Love”), friendship and healing (“Daylight Sun”), chaos and clarity (“Tomorrow”), nostalgia and hope (“In Good Time”), and so much more: One of the record’s heaviest moments comes in “Stone” as Storm learns to be okay with being alone.
It’s “the pain of losing your sense of community and some friendships because you’re changing and growing,” he describes. “Wanting to fit in and belong but finding it’s time to be by yourself, despite it being hard, and doing the self-work, digging deeper into yourself to learn what you need.”
He wrote “Stone” in the worst part of Melbourne’s lockdowns. “At its peak, I could barely leave my house,” he says. “I was so anxious, and I had this epiphany that I really needed to work on it. The chorus is, ‘I’d rather be alone than together now,’ but for me, it’s not a negative thing. I need to be alone so I can have these reflections. I could’ve gone down such a negative spiral, but with the help around me I was able to be with it and nurture myself within it, so I could come out.”
Wonder, won’t you?
This all feels harder cos it seems we didn’t choose
Unearthing the truth that lifts you from the dirt
And shows you where to move
Always I’d hoped
That I’d always unfold
So I’d rather be alone than together now
So I’d rather be alone than together now
Why can’t I feel like we belong?
Too soon the race swept us along
While “Stone” may have been one of the most cathartic songs for him to write, Storm says his current favourite lyrics comes from “Daylight Sun,” a song in which he extends an outstretched arm for a friend in need. “I have many favorite lyrics of course, but I particularly like ‘daylight sun always tries to make its way to you.’ It’s obviously very simple, but the meaning for me is that the goodness in life, the ease and the supportive energy of life, is always there to work with you. Help and support is always there. It comforts me.”
Daylight sun always tries to make its way to you
Over there you run silently, of course you do
Don’t hide and wait, too far away now
I’m gonna miss you this time too
Wont say nothing at all darling
I’ll believe the words that you said to me
I’ll believe you, I’ll believe you, endlessly
When there’s no nowhere to go darling
I won’t leave the world that said you’d need
I’ll believe you, I’ll believe you, endlessly
Poking fun at the way we rushed with our open hearts
We didn’t care too much, what were we supposed to do?
We couldn’t wait, for what we said then
I’m gonna miss you, each day through
Whether you’re chilled to the bone by wintry weather or bruises that just can’t seem to heal, Wonder, Won’t You? promises to warm each and every cold heart.
Harrison Storm’s songwriting is calm and comforting, his sweet singing a soothing, seductive balm anchoring us to the people, places, emotions, and experiences that matter most in this life. “Now I am older, the world I still adore it,” he declares in the penultimate track “Tomorrow,” looking up and finding his own reasons to feel good about the future. “Oh how I wander back in time, lover… Tomorrow has not begun; take cover between my arms, now I’m aware of all I could be.” It’s an achingly beautiful sentiment, and one that feels as intimate as it is truly universal.
“I guess I hope that people can feel the humanity in this album,” Storm shares. “That if they are going through something difficult or uncomfortable, that these songs may help in some way. And I feel the same way about it myself.”
“That is my takeaway: That to create and to express is so important for me, despite who listens. And if people do connect, then that expression has a positive effect that is now doubled.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside Harrison Storm’s Wonder, Won’t You? with Atwood Magazine as he goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of his debut album!
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:: stream/purchase Wonder, Won’t You? here ::
:: connect with Harrison Storm here ::
Stream: ‘Wonder, Won’t You?’ – Harrison Storm
:: Inside Wonder, Won’t You? ::
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Warm A Cold Heart
It’s about working through a lot of self doubt and limiting beliefs over the years that led me to use songwriting to make my way through that chatter more than normal. This song in particular was one that turned into the voice on my shoulder to keep going. I had a lot of anxiety during the time this was written and it became the inner guide I’d lean on.
My Way Home
This song is about someone who means a whole lot to me in this life. It’s a simple song really. Listening to the first mixes of this and walking around the nature reserve I used to live near were some of my favourite memories when working on the album. I feel we captured the energy I was trying to in a way that is very meaningful for me.
Stone
There are times when I need to be out in the world, feeling connected and safe with everything around me and really living. This song is almost the opposite of that, but not in a way where I’m hard on myself for being in that state. It’s the acknowledgment that I need time alone to regenerate and heal.
Daylight Sun
A friend of mine had gone through a pretty horrific experience in their life and the people that were closest to them didn’t believe it happened. Them sharing the story of this experience with me really hit home. I wrote this song to show I believed them and that I was there for them.
In Good Time
I went on a writing trip where my main focus was to work on songs for the album. I hit a bit of a wall and decided to listen to an old demo of “Sense of Home,” one of the very first pieces of music I shared on the internet. It was a massive emotional rollercoaster and flashback and seeing how much I had changed since I wrote “Sense Of Home.” This song is a direct reply to the younger version of myself who wrote that song.
This Love
This song explores those first few months where you meet someone for the first time and they’re all you can think about. It’s that lustful and exciting time that feels exciting and new. How making that connection can shift where you’re at and light a fire that can lift your spirits.
Life Ain’t Ordinary
One of the tracks from the album that feels like a step into a slightly different world. I decided to include this one to add a different flavour to the list of songs. It’s got a bit of a spooky, carnival atmosphere which was really fun to create in the studio with Dustin Tebbutt.
Tomorrow
The oldest song from the album but also a track that nearly made it onto almost every EP I have released but never did. I’m so glad it finally saw the light of day. This song really does mean a lot to me and finding the perfect moment to release it sometimes felt like it would never arise.
Better With You
When producing this song, I had the intention to finish the album with a song that helped you process that rest of the songs you had just listened to. Many times listening back to the mixes to review, I would lay on the couch with my headphones to make any notes I had. There were many times where by the end of this song, I fell asleep. Which was perfect. I felt like it was a song to come home to. To float away into.
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:: connect with Harrison Storm here ::
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