Don't Sleep on Couchsleepers
Image Courtesy of Couchsleepers Website // couchsleepers.com
New Jersey born Harrison Hsiang had many false starts to his music career. Originally a pianist, Hsiang was heavily influenced by jazz in his formative middle school years. However, in high school, his passion changed from piano to guitar-- yet the jazz influence remained. Add some brilliant songwriting into the mix, and you’ll experience all of Hsiang’s influences in Couchsleepers’ first single “Want”.
“I'd become frustrated with how I always seemed to be playing with my fingers, not my head, on the piano,” said Hsiang.
Things started to change for Hsiang when he was introduced to Jasper Sloan Yip, an indie-pop artist based out of Vancouver. In July of 2017, Yip released his sophomore album, “Foxtrot”, catching Hsiang’s eye. With dreamy vocals and magnetic energy, Hsiang wasn’t the only one blown away by “Foxtrot” -- however, he may be the only one who did an independent study on it.
“It was this deep dive that laid a lot of the foundations for my own songwriting — the emphasis on story and theme and how they interact with the musical textures, the idea of a cohesive album, and even the sonic and descriptive genres,” Hsiang said.
This, however, was not the start of Couchsleepers. Couchsleepers was born from the skeletal remains of Hsiang’s first band. Just like his first project, Hsiang believes Couchsleepers to not be your ordinary band, but rather a supercollective of musical collaborators. There is a rotating cast of members and songwriters for Couchsleepers; the only true constant being Hsiang himself.
“While I'm the only required performer for the recorded music, you can be assured to find those two names scattered all over the liner notes of any Couchsleepers production,” Hsiang said, discussing trusted collaborators Max Shashoua and Mike Nunziante.
For the better part of a decade, these two have been as influential to Couchsleepers as Hsiang himself. The final member to round out the backbone of Couchsleepers is Brendan Ronan, who has only been in Hsiang’s life for a few years but quickly became a valued friend and collaborator. While these four may be the face of Couchsleepers, Hsiang says that the band has also worked with both of Hsiang’s siblings and a number of songwriters like Olivia Hale, Emily Shearman, and Laura Heaberlin.
Put it all together, and what do you get? “Only When It’s Dark”, Couchsleepers’ debut album released at the end of February, right as the world became crazy. A nine-track album that can be listened to in half an hour; it is open and personal, and a testament to improvement. Unofficially, this is Hsiang’s sophomore album as there was a predecessor, “Sleepless”, that lives on in his harddrive and a long-lost physical copy. However, this was from his first band and while there are only a few song differences between “Only When It’s Dark and Sleepless”, everything was re-recorded before being released under the Couchsleepers name.
Throughout the process of re-recording, “the sense that [Hsiang] had a cogent thought to articulate, something I wanted to say. That grew into a vision for an entire world that could be articulated, sonically at first but gradually through other media as well, and it was then that I felt we had something worthy of the Couchsleepers name,” Hsiang said.
The album starts out with “Whatever I’ve Got”, which Hsiang sees as a prelude to the rest of the album despite writing it in the middle of the album process. It is a soft, gentle song with heartfelt lyrics and the simple vocals of Hsiang. This flows into the real start of the album, “Half the Night”. Up late at night musing about what his lover is dreaming about, Hsiang sings alongside guitar riffs set in the background. The song takes an emotional uproar halfway through, as the frustration of not knowing about his lover’s loyalty builds.
Followed by “All I Want” and “At the End”, Hsiang expresses his desires to his lover lyrically and instrumentally; and in ‘On Your Mind’ he begs his lover to try and work things out instead of letting the relationship fail. “This Unmade Bed” and “In My Head” follow the sorrow and denial one experiences at the end of a relationship, when you’re left alone once again. The album concludes with the juxtaposing “Sweet Dreams” and “Sleepless,” both about missing his lover but accepting that she’s gone. Though largely fictitious, it is a very personal album for Hsiang who is able to be incredibly honest and open in his music through his feelings and experiences.
As for quarantine, Hsiang counts himself lucky to be living and surrounding himself with his bandmates and other creators. At the beginning, they all disappeared into the Vermont countryside where they were able to expand upon “Only When It’s Dark”, musically and thematically, and start a new project of couplets that are currently out mastering.
“We invested a lot of time in exploring new sounds and had much clearer production goals in mind with this project. I'm endlessly excited to share it with everyone,” Hsiang said.
And everyone is excited about it. “Only When It’s Dark” is a smashing debut, showcasing the lyrical and musical talents of Hsiang and his friends. Couchsleepers may have been in the works for a while, and it looks like they’re only going to go up from here.