Harbours

ABOUT THE HARBOURS After spending time in a band that struggled to make sense of having four different songwriters, Miguel Zelaya decided to be the only cook in the kitchen of his latest project, Harbours. Sure, Harbours’ debut album, 2006’s Second Story Maker (Stab City Records), was created with plenty of help—including contributions from members of The Mother Hips and Elephone—but it was ultimately a product of Zelaya’s vision, one filled with ’60s-influenced pop and lyrics inspired by his...

ABOUT THE HARBOURS After spending time in a band that struggled to make sense of having four different songwriters, Miguel Zelaya decided to be the only cook in the kitchen of his latest project, Harbours. Sure, Harbours’ debut album, 2006’s Second Story Maker (Stab City Records), was created with plenty of help—including contributions from members of The Mother Hips and Elephone—but it was ultimately a product of Zelaya’s vision, one filled with ’60s-influenced pop and lyrics inspired by his desire to move back to San Francisco after a pit stop in his hometown of San Jose. Settled into his Mission District digs—conveniently located above the studio space where he recorded the album—Zelaya put a band together in order to properly present Second Story Maker’s layered creations onstage. After a while, he began to notice a shift in his songwriting style. “Playing so much live kind of forced me to write songs that sound good live,” explains Zelaya. “I have a ton of ballads, but you can’t really live on ballads. It just naturally occurred—the songs are more rockin’, more up-tempo than the first record.” Zelaya also realized that as much as he enjoyed doing things on his own terms in the studio, the guys he was playing with live—a couple of whom helped out with Second Story Maker—were inspiring him in all the right ways. So it only made sense that this solidified version of Harbours would make the band’s next album. “A few months in, I thought, ‘This is exactly the lineup I wanted,’” says Zelaya. “Big drums & bass, shimmering electric & acoustic guitars, older ‘vintage’ keyboards. Everything sounded great, so let’s get this band recorded,’ as opposed to, ‘Here’s a bunch of songs, let’s find musicians and figure out arrangements…haphazardly.’ We’ve been playing these songs for four or five months, when we decided to go in and track them pretty much like we’ve played them live. We added a couple of things here and there, but the general idea was, ‘Let’s get the sound of this particular band.’” The result is the recently completed No Souvenirs (label and release date TBA), which finds Zelaya (vocals, acoustic guitars, keys, percussion) accompanied by band mates Justin Frahm (keys, vocals), Kyle Kramer (guitars, vocals), Conor McCormack (bass, percussion), and Bob Nickolopoulos (drums). Other assistants include Sean Coleman from Kelley Stoltz’s band and Or, The Whale’s Lindsay Garfield, as well as lyrical help from Braden Towne (who played on the first album) and The Lonelyhearts’ John Lindenbaum. The album has a rawer, more live feel than its predecessor, due in part to its basic tracks being recorded in a single day. But don’t let promises of a more rocking underbelly fool you: No Souvenirs still contains Zelaya’s favorite reference points (The Beatles, The Kinks, The Zombies, etc.) and his gently commanding vocals. And despite having found his footing back in the city by the Bay, Zelaya’s words continue to find the songwriter a little unsure about the world around him. “In general, the songs are still about longing and misery, but they’re upbeat!” explains Zelaya with a laugh. “But the themes are probably pretty similar to the first one. Even though I’m here, there’s still a lot that’s unsettled—I don’t know quite where to sit or stand, or what I want to do. I think it’s still a prominent theme and it feels very relevant to me right now; the uncertainty of things” One thing Zelaya definitely isn’t ambivalent about is the decision to work with engineer Damien Rasmussen, who set up shop at the same Catacombs studio where Second Story Maker was made. “He was the perfect choice for what we were trying to do,” says Zelaya. “He made everything sound awesome, and completely understood what I was aiming for—getting it raw, but not cruddy. The whole recording process was really smooth and real easy.” Whether they’re juggling a day job, another band (Frahm also plays with This Union Standard and Jeffrey Luck Lucas), or both, the members of Harbours are busy enough that they’re going to have to move some things around if they want to embark on their first tour, but in the meantime, Zelaya wants to take advantage of the group’s momentum. In fact, he’s already ready to make another record. “The sense of urgency is definitely in my mind,” says Zelaya. “I’ve got the songs and the spaces to record, and I’ve got musicians who can play everything better than I do—so let’s get this done.” -Marc Hawthorne