Harpy: Sin, sin, sin
At one point, HARPY’s Last Time – one of seven tracks from her debut EP about the seven deadly sins, inspired by lust – was called Fuckpocalypse. A politer name was chosen in the end to make the track more palatable to radio stations, and the artist herself likes when a song is titled after a memorable lyric, but in that scrapped moniker was much of what can be found in the music of HARPY: desire, fear, provocation.
HARPY is all jet black hair, shades to match, covered in tattoos. Even over video call, she has presence. Interviews in person are better though, and she’s always imagined having a conversation in an empty, industrial warehouse space. It’s dingy, water is dripping down the walls, and there are two extravagant chairs. They would be uncomfortable, metal contraptions that look great but don’t feel great.
Who is HARPY? “If you take a quick dip into HARPY, you come across a very provocative, dominant character,” she says. “But I’m also very playful, I’m very silly, and I think that comes across when you get to know me a bit more. I’m totally happy with people knowing all aspects of mommy.”
Who she is today has been shaped by lots of moments in her life, but her first experience of the fetish world proved particularly formative. Attending Torture Garden was like stepping into a scene from Mad Max for baby HARPY, she says. She’d never seen anything like it. Walking among the bright coloured latex and elaborate head pieces was like being at a festival on acid and speed all at once.
The lack of shame in that environment has defined her as a person and an artist. “It was such a wonderful experience,” she says, and hopes that when people listen to her music or come to her shows, they get “maybe a tiny little taste of what I felt when I stepped into that scene.”
The HARPY project is more than just the music. It’s the stage show (expect blood), it’s the wardrobe (kink couture), it’s everything (like she is to her fans who call her ‘mommy’), which unlocks more sides to the singer’s artistry: “It puts me in a headspace where I feel otherworldly and like I’ve stepped into a character, or like I’m a super villain, something like that.” She’s seen a million boy bands in jeans and a t-shirt – “sounding amazing, don’t get me wrong” – but the visuals were always going to be a huge part of HARPY.
Her career began because she wanted to make music that would fit on the soundtrack to films like Resident Evil or 28 Days Later. Precious begins with a quote – “I have crossed oceans of time to find you” – from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. She’s inspired by the ways art can confront you and make you feel physically sick, like the extreme works of French film director Gaspar Noé.
But she’s a big pop girlie too, which casual observers might not expect. Her current obsession is Zara Larsson – “she can do no wrong in my eyes” – and wishes she could move about on a stage like she does. She’s more of a dancer than a mosher, and as an audience member will show her appreciation with lots of clicking and a stank face.
There is still some secrecy around what to expect in the lead up to her EP VII: she won’t give anything away about the next single, but does reveal that the single after that will be Inferno, a song inspired by Dante’s Inferno, representing the sin of wrath. She’s working on the visuals for it at the moment and describes it as a “really, really powerful song” which some people might know if they’ve caught her performing over the summer.
What has writing songs about sin revealed to her? “I’m definitely a glutton for pain, shall we say. In many different forms, and mostly to do with my relationships with people.”
One relationship she feels understood in is her creative one with Sam Matlock of WARGASM fame. They have worked together for years, and he is a key part of a small pool of people she writes with. “He creates incredible synth sounds, he is great at guitar, his structures are so exciting,” she says. “It’s a really beautiful relationship we have. He understands me as an artist, which is quite rare.”
But it is the HARPY name on the marquee. She’s the boss and she gets final say. “I’ve got to be involved in every single detail,” she says. “I am definitely a micromanager.” She describes having come up with a strict blueprint as to what is suitable for HARPY a while ago, but as she collaborates more and explores other subcultures, what matters at the end of the day is authenticity. “As long as it’s genuine and I’m not trying to be anybody that I’m not, then I think that counts as being HARPY.”
Playing Download Festival was a life ambition for her. She ticked that off the list this summer. Main stage at the Reading & Leeds Festival is the next goal. “All my friends finished their GCSEs and went to Reading and I didn’t go, and I’ve never been. I think little emo HARPY who missed out just really wants to make up for lost time by playing the stage.”
She has since attended the festival for a day. She was gutted to be missing CHAPPELL ROAN, but excited for LIMP BIZKIT. One suspects that between acts she was looking up at the stage where one day her faithful will gather in worship and all the rest will soon follow. Hail HARPY.
VII is out now via self-release. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS125 here:
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