Interview b Westfall October, 2003

Info
Website:	http://www.harlandmusic.com/
Latest Release:	Salt Box Lane
Download:	Non-album track: Fly

Harland. This name will become known to the world at large very soon.

I first heard about Harland from an email message board I subscribe to. The short review of her music was so positive I quickly clicked on the link (http://www.harlandmusic.com) and made a discovery unparalleled by any other in my years of musical treasure hunts.

I immediately downloaded four complete songs from Harland’s Web site. After hearing them, I knew this was my find of the year. The songs were so well written and arranged, and were sung with an angelic voice unlike any I had heard before. I needed more!

I continued to check Harland’s Web site constantly for updates. I was occasionally given the gift of another brutally honest, but beautiful song to download.

When I found out that Harland was chosen to tour with Delerium on their first tour, I was happy to know that others were starting to acknowledge her unique talents. Kristy Thirsk, the definitive Delerium vocalist to many, was also invited on the tour. It is a shining example of her talent that this unknown artist was chosen out of the dozens of popular vocalists that have sung on Delerium’s four vocally-supported albums. The simple fact that she was chosen says more about her than I could ever convey.

Shortly before the tour, Harland made available her utterly perfect album “Salt Box Lane,” along with her first album under the moniker Phoelar. It is equally as good, if not a bit more experimental. Needless to say I purchased both immediately.

I attended the Delerium show in San Francisco and was instantly blown away by her incredible beauty, powerful stage presence, and magnificent voice.

As you will see from the interview below, she has accomplished a great deal in a very short time. And I anxiously look forward to much, much more.

Harland encompasses grace, beauty, style and talent beyond measure.

On to the interview…

Let’s start out with your name Harland. What does this mean and is this your real name?

My full name is Shelley Harland. A few years ago my Father passed away. My dad’s nickname was “H” and he would often be referred to by our last name – so I decided from then on I would create music only under the name “Harland” – kind of in his honor.

Tell me a little about yourself and how music in general has been a part of your life?

When I was a little girl someone bought me a Casio keyboard – I would lock myself in my bedroom and make up my own little tunes as I went along. My sister and I went to dance school and at family gatherings we would always put on some sort of performance. My family loved music - I have old tapes of the whole family (three generations) sitting around a little mic singing along to Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Frank Sinatra - Motown.

As I got older I realized music was more to me than just a fun thing to do now and again. I had met someone who introduced me to the music scene in London - I was used to going to clubs and dancing - now I was seeing people perform live - I was captivated. I realized that fate had put me right where I was when I began trying to compose music - I had full string arrangements and rhythms in my head - bursting to get out - and it all started flowing - I began writing, and singing, and felt I had found a whole new world.

How long have you been making music and when/how did you start professionally?

I started making music about four years ago. I experimented with a four track recorder and guitar to begin with. I wrote sketches of songs - and at the same time I was collaborating long distance with a great programmer/producer in Australia called Andrew Wright. When we realized we had enough material to get started on an album I decided to go to Australia for a month. On the plane on the way over I couldn’t stop writing lyrics and ideas. I had a wonderful time making "Phoelar" with Andrew. We recorded 15 songs in a month and he totally inspired me to become a programmer. When I got back to NY I bought an MPC 2000 and a JV1080 and started sampling and creating songs. I was in heaven!!

Who are some of the artists that inspire you today?

Who would you most like to work with in the music industry?

I would love to collaborate with the Sneaker Pimps and do a track with Andy from “Lamb”. I’ve actually been to each of their studio’s in London and we’ve talked about working together in the past – but just haven’t got round to it. Really I would just like to continue working with people that have true passion for music and people I can learn from.

Harland and Westfall at Delerium concert, SF

What is your favorite type of music?

All kinds - from classical to heavy rock to poptastic!!

What type of album is Salt Box Lane?

One that I hope people will connect to emotionally and want to sing along to in their car to.

Describe it musically.

Songs with meaningful lyrics, driven by emotional strings and piano with flavor crystals of electronic sounds and beats.

I see that you wrote most songs and produced some songs yourself – tell me a little about that.

Yes, I wrote 8 songs myself and I produced "In the Dark" and "Pounding". All other songs I co-wrote with some great people. James Wright, Andrew Wright, Skotti Alain Elliot, Larry Klein, I enjoy writing with other people and I learn more about production everyday! I look forward to producing more in the future!

The music to both “In The Dark” and “Pounding” is incredible. Would you ever consider creating an instrumental album or scoring a film?

Yes definitely! In fact I was approached by someone a few months back who wanted me to score for his film – he sent me the script – we talked a couple of times and he said he was off traveling for a while – who knows what’ll happen when he gets back! I would be great fun!

I believe you also made the Skin video yourself, how did you accomplish this? (video available for viewing at www.harlandmusic.com)

I'm a bit of a control freak and when I realized I could make movies on my new computer - I had to try it!! I was in Miami when the idea came to me to make the video so we did some shooting in the tropical surroundings but most of the time there was a tripod fixed on a white background. When I got back to NY I had so much fun editing it. I only wish I had more time to make more music videos but I will in the future.

What did you learn while making the album “Salt Box Lane” ?

I learned - in a very back to front way - to always trust your gut feeling and remember who you are - It can get incredibly confusing when you have 10 different opinions flying around. Trust your heart in everything you do.

Why did you choose to self release it?

Well...I guess I've never officially said "Ok - I’m releasing my album on my own". When Delerium asked me to go on tour with them - I decided to put a CD together of a bunch of my favorite songs - so I did the artwork and took some on tour and put it up on my site and people began buying it. It just kind of happened like that? I have sooo many songs that I want to put out and I will in time

What is your favorite song on the album and why?

Probably Salt Box Lane - because it’s so emotional to me - and although quite painful - I really feel it in my heart every time I listen

You also have another album out called Phoelar. What type of album is this? What can you tell us about it?

Phoelar was made by myself and Andrew Wright = a great producer in Australia. This was my first ever recordings and I had only just began to embark on my music career - its raw - which is exactly what I love about it.

Your website www.harlandmusic.com offers four incredible songs not on any of the albums. Will you continue to release songs in this manner?

I will always post mp3 downloads on my site – It’s natural for me to give music as a gift. I’ll put different tracks up at different times and at some point the songs that are there now will be on an album – I just have to get round to putting them on a disc!

Your website also recently posted a clip of a recent live performance at Climate 8 in New York. By the way, you sound incredible live. How was it to finally perform your own material?

I’ve performed my songs a bunch of times in NY – but I would love to go on tour at some point and play in other states – I enjoy it so much.

Would you consider releasing additional live material from your website?

Definitely! I just have to get some good footage

You recently completed a month long tour with Delerium (their first tour ever), featuring yourself and Kristy Thirsk as the vocalists for the tour - What was your favorite part of performing with Delerium on the Chimera tour? What was your favorite song to sing? Do you have any interesting stories to tell about the tour?

I loved being on the Delerium tour!! I enjoyed the songs that I had to sing - especially Innocente'. But most of all I loved the people I was on tour with - it was like a little family and I miss them all sooo much.

Harland with Delerium, in Detroit

I read several posts from various message boards regarding the tour that stated you now own “Silence” (Delerium’s biggest release to date). How does that make you feel?

Very special indeed! I love this song and was very honored to sing it. I know this song means so much to the fans and I didn’t want to let them down. Actually after the first show we did in Vancouver, this guy came back stage - I recognized him immediately as Sarah McLachlan’s Husband. He came up to me, shook my hand and said some amazing things to me. I was relieved...

Were you nervous or worried that you would be ostracized by Delerium fans for not being a vocalist on any of the previous albums?

I never really thought about not being on the previous albums… I was concentrating too hard on remembering all those words!!! Honestly I was completely floored by everyone’s kindness – the audience was amazing and seemed to genuinely love the performance. It was a wonderful feeling

I hear that you are now working with Kristy Thirsk on a project. What is this all about?

Kristy and I just clicked on the Delerium Tour - we had a great time - we enjoyed working together and got a great positive response from people that saw us perform together - So one day we said - "hey, between us we can produce, sing, write, play guitar etc.......duh!! Let's do something! So we began writing some songs on the bus. I also wrote some songs on the bus with Adrian White (drummer). I plan a trip to Vancouver in November to work with both Kristy and Adrian.

What are you currently working on and what can we expect to see in the future.

Right now I’m writing new songs for my project, performing in NY, creating tracks for the Vancouver dudes :). I'm also collaborating with Luke Gordon, Josh Abraham, Blue Room Project.

You have worked with Junkie XL, Pole Folder, Joshua Ryan, Dj Rap, Ferry Corsten, Delerium (new single out now from iTunes titled “Above The Clouds”) and even did some programming on the new John Cale Album. What has been your favorite collaboration and why?

I'm proud of all the collaborations I’ve had - which is a nice feeling. Sometimes people just send me tracks through the post - for example Junkie XL - I’d never met him - but he sent me a track - I wrote and recorded my vocal in my studio -and sent it off to him. Next thing I know I have this awesome message from Tom on my answer phone saying "Your the **cking bomb"!!! That was nice :) Then a few months later I was in Belgium recording with Benoit Franquet (Pole Folder) I love working with him because he is so passionate about music - he puts his heart and soul into it - which is a rarity! One day we got in his car and drove to Amsterdam to hang with Tom (Junkie XL) - it was great to meet him and hear what he had done with the track.

I'm very excited about Pole Folders's up coming album. There are two tracks on there that we wrote together. This is going to be a great album.

I hear there is a funny story about a remix contest from the Joshua Ryan collaboration of “Buildings In Between”. What was that about?

Well.....a fan had posted on my site that there was a remix competition. When I found out I was really excited because I had always wanted to do a remix of something....and I thought this was a great opportunity as I know my voice so well - I know what I can do with it. So I downloaded the files and entered the competition anonymously under the name "H Remix". It was so much fun to hear what people did with the track. In the end mixdown voted me third in the comp and resident advisor voted my remix number 1 :) Sneaky ole' me :)

What is working with Bill Lieb and Rhys Fulber like? What was the process for working with them on “Above The Clouds”?

I met Rhys once briefly in LA when he asked me if I was interested in being one of the singers for the Delerium tour. Other than that I hadn't had any contact with them before the tour. Regarding "Above The Clouds" they had sent my manager a track one week before I left for the tour to see if I would like to write something for it. I wrote "Above The Clouds" and then sent them the vocal - much like I did with Junkie XL. Then Greg Reely applied his magic to the mix and voila!!

Obviously I got to know the boys more while on tour and we had a great time. Touring with Delerium was a new experience for them and no one knew what to expect from anyone - but I think we were all pleasantly surprised. We had a blast and it seemed like the fans did too! I would certainly like to work with Bill and Rhys on any future projects they have up their sleeve!

What do you think of the song?

I think it’s beautiful. And I’ve been reading some lovely comments from fans.

Did it turn out like you thought it would?

It’s very similar to how it was originally – they sent me the music – I did my vocal – it is just mixed a lot better now!!

How does it feel to be apart of a group that picks very unique and talented vocalists? Can we expect more work with them in the future?

Its feels great! The future is in their hands. But I would certainly love to do a track with Delerium and Conjure One.

What are your aspirations for the future? Where do you see your self musically 10 / 20 years from now?

Man....I wish I knew the answer to that. ......I hope life will be a little less confusing and I hope to be in a position where I can help others more on a full time basis. Its a great thing to be a musician – but when your working really hard on your career while holding down a part time job - there's very little time left. I'd like to be successful enough that I can devote more time to helping others.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Clear Vision (this was played on our bus everyday on the Delerium tour) Love it!!

Is there anything you want to say to your current and future fans?

The one thing that keeps an artist going is to truly know they are doing the right thing - that they are touching people’s lives and hearts. When I get messages on my board or emails from people telling me what effect my music has had on them it means more than you'll ever know. Thanks!