John Harrison is a multi-talented recording artist in the Chapel Hill area. He is known for his role as singer and guitarist in the band North Elementary, but Harrison also shows his acoustic side with his solo project, Jphono1.
Harrison released his first Jphono1 full-length, Living is Easy, last summer, and accompanied the album with a book.
Staff writer Bo McMillan talked with Harrison about his new album under that moniker and what it’s like to work as Jphono1.
Diversions: What inspired your shift of attention to acoustic writing?
John Harrison: The rock band was operating in a way that excited me, and I didn’t want to change that.
I’d been writing a lot more of acoustic fingerpicking songs at my house, and I used to transform them into rock songs, but then I decided to go for this outlet and keep them as they were.
The two projects run parallel together.
Dive: How do the songwriting and performance processes differ between North Elementary and Jphono1?
JH: The biggest difference is that the rock band is very collaborative, and it consists of high energy shows played with other musicians — one of my favorite things to do.
The other is a bit collaborative on the recording end, but the shows are just me, with an acoustic guitar, a range-of-effects pedal and a loop pedal.
I do everything on the fly with the looper, layering the sound as I go, and that’s what makes it so different.
Plus I’m singing a lot more on the stage, as opposed to there being a lot of sound like with the rock band.
Dive: What can you tell me about your new album?
JH: Mostly I just had new songs; there’s no real cohesive situation going on with the album.
I think there’s a little more finishing on these songs than the last album.
I also got a new keyboard similar to an ‘80s Roland that I really like, and that’s all over the new record. Overall, this album feels a little more complete than the others and it’s a little denser.
Dive: Did anything in particular inspire it?
JH: My inspiration? As far as that goes I just write, and once I have enough songs to group together I like to document them.
Dive: You have a release show coming up tomorrow. I heard you had barbecue and Tang at the last one?
JH: (laughing) There’s not going to be any of that this year.
The cover of my last album had an astronaut riding a horse. He was kind of a cowboy and an astronaut, and that translated or led to the idea of barbecue and Tang.
Dive: Your last record came with a book. Are there any special features with the new album?
JH: For this one the formats included some limited edition lathe-cut vinyls, but those unfortunately already sold out.
I also made cassettes this time, which I’ve never done. I’ve seen a lot more of those around though — people seem to like them.
Dive: Any future plans we should know about?
JH: I’m touring up north in February, but that’s about as far as the plans go. I’m just going to have fun and not stop.
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