New Zealand singer/songwriter Harper Finn (son of Tim) released a brand new song and video on Friday. ’Dance Away These Days’ channels the frustration of lockdown and invites you to ‘lose yourself in the music’.
Harper co-produced the track alongside Tobias Kuhn, and five-time Grammy-winner Cole MGN, who’s worked with the likes of Beck, Snoop Dogg, and Blood Orange.
The song was inspired by a quote from Samuel Beckett: “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.”
The music video, directed by New Zealand photographer and director James Lowe and Nicole Miller-Wong, draws on this inspiration too, featuring Harper and a troupe of dancers, moving to the music.
“I spent weeks in my room with the door closed trying to figure out moves for this song not knowing if I would get that chance to make the video,” Harper says, “It was a surreal experience to teach those moves to six actual dancers and see them done back to me.”
Harper grew up listening to a wide variety of music, inspired by the eclectic tastes of his parents Tim Finn and Marie Azcona, which included everyone from Serge Gainsbourg, Kate Bush to The Clash, The Zombies and Jungle Brothers.
Working nights at a local venue in Auckland’s downtown, he was exposed to bands like post-punk game-changers IDLES and pop-star Billie Eilish.
During this time, Harper was studying History and Politics at The University of Auckland, where he began to develop an interest in thinking critically about memory; this inspired his songwriting, which often captures snapshots of his youth.
Harper’s debut single ‘Conversations (with the moon)’ got attention in Australia, where it was playlist on Triple J. Since then he’s released a string of singles including ‘Teenage Queen’, ‘Good For Me’, ‘Sundown’, and ‘Norway’.
