Harvey Danger - Little By Little

Listen up, youngsters, because Harvey Danger has seen the other side and there’s a lesson to be learned. The Washington band’s success has run the gamut from releasing one of the most memorable singles of the 1990’s (“Flagpole Sitta”- remember that? They used to play it at the swim team parties while you were doing beer bongs) all the way to releasing a gorgeous album (2000’s King James Version) that very few people heard and fewer enjoyed. Five years later, they’ve re-emerged with an entirely new perspective and more than a few cautionary tales, all of which are summarized in their new album, Little By Little. The album begins with “Wine, Women, and Song”, a track that departs wildly from the band's usual three-piece-‘n-a-poet format into a minimal, piano-based song. Sean Nelson takes on the ego associated with wild commercial success, as he proclaims “I shoulda been paying the bills instead of paying homage to an image drawn from somebody else’s head”. After their stirring beginning, the band rips into a track that showcases the guitar rock Harvey Danger became famous for. “Cream and Bastards Rise”, a nasty, stompable warning of backstabbers, proves that they still have what made them famous in the first place. From there, the album takes a twisting path that the band never dared follow before. Some of the efforts are successful (“Happiness Writes White”) while others fail to resonate so deeply (“Incommunicado”), but the experiment is clear: Harvey Danger released a very safe and predictable record, and no one cared. They didn’t make any money on it, and they went back to the little clubs. With Little By Little, they made the record no one expected, they gave it away for free on their website, and they sold more copies in the first weekend than King James Version sold… ever. Little By Little is a formidable album of lessons- but not for you. Rather, this is the sound of an incredible band teaching itself a lesson. [www.harveydanger.com]