Biography

The duo Nai Harvest formed in Sheffield during 2011 when guitarist/vocalist Ben Thompson's group fell apart and he recruited his friend Lew Currie to play drums. Forsaking a bassist, they began playing and soon cut a split single with Papayér, then followed it with their first solo single, Feeling Better, which they self-released in 2012. Their sound at this point was heavily influenced by U.S. emo bands like Mineral and American Football, with plenty of guitar noodling and fragmented song structures. A couple more 2012 releases (a split EP with Bonjour, Invalids, and Reno Dakota and a split cassette with Five Leaf Nettles) followed as Nai Harvest refined their live show and played in wider arcs. Moving away from the emo-heavy style of their early days toward a heavier, poppier sound, they recorded their first LP, Whatever, and saw it released by Dog Knights Productions and Pinky Swear Records in 2013. Time spent touring meant time on the road in a van, and Thompson and Currie used it to work on improving their songwriting skills and working on making their music more accessible as it roped in shoegaze, dream pop, and '90s indie rock influences. The first flowering of their new approach was 2014's Hold Open My Head EP, which was co-released by their new U.S. label, Topshelf Records. Nai Harvest toured the U.S. that fall, then returned home to work on their next album with producer Bob Cooper. Hairball was released in April of 2015 by Topshelf. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi