So how did the young producer from Brisbane spend his day, not knowing 100 per cent if his track would poll? “It was fairly epic. I didn’t really know if I was gonna be in and if I was, where I was gonna be, but it was good fun… and very messy,” Harley adds, a sly grin trickling down the line. “We had a few offers for a few different things on Australia Day but I’m really happy with my choice just to do nothing really.”
Harley, who also plays in live electro-rock outfit Pigeon, sounds grounded about the success he’s achieved since the release of Given The Chance, which was quickly picked up by our national youth broadcaster and run with by an exponentially-growing fanbase. And given his somewhat-rapid rise, you’d think there would be a fair amount of added stress on the producer/songwriter, who many have tipped as a force to be reckoned with in 2014.
According to Harley, “Expectation management is tough I guess. But I’ve sort of come to terms with the fact that there’s not much I can do about it besides write what I wanna write, and hopefully it’s what people have liked about what I’ve already written. So yeah, the method I’m working on right now is to just keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully it works!”
While we’re yet to hear what he does next – last year saw the release of a couple of remixes, and his first EP under The Kite String Tangle moniker is in the pipeline. “The EP is pretty much all written and I’m working on finalising everything now, and finding the time to get into a studio and add the final touches. “We’re finalising label conversations now and then we can put a proper plan into place, and hopefully by the latest, it’ll be the end of April/May and it’ll be out.”
Unsurprisingly given his massive 2013, Harley has some big plans to get 2014 rolling, starting with his upcoming – and almost sold out – national tour (which he says will feature a Nikola Tesla-esque light show) followed by the stuff dreams are made of. “This month I’m heading over to the US for South By Southwest and then hopefully doing a little run of shows while I’m over there.
“And then I did a guest vocal for an electronic act called Adventure Club and I’m gonna be doing a live guest vocal for them at Ultra (Music) Fest and Coachella and then come back in time for Groovin’ The Moo and yeah, it’s pretty much all full throttle until about May… it doesn’t really stop.”
BY TROY MUTTON
