Dhani Harrison and Nigel Godrich began working together after Harrison reached out to Godrich during pandemic isolation for guidance. Those conversations led to another: why not try making something together? Godrich invited Harrison into his Brixton studio, where the two began building songs from tape loops while working quickly and instinctively. “It’s like one person throwing something in the air and the other person catching it,” Godrich says of their process.

The results marked new territory for both. Harrison, typically in full control behind the computer on his own projects, stepped into the role of singer and guitarist, while Godrich shaped the material in real time, which would eventually lead to their self-titled album. “He’s a machine,” Harrison says. “He has strong opinions about what he wants to hear, and for me it’s very humbling. That’s why it’s such a new experience.”

Today, ahead of the LP’s arrival, the duo are sharing “Slower,” the album’s opening track, is accompanied by a video directed by RUFFMERCY, a Bristol-based animator and music video director known for his hand-drawn, psychedelic-tinged style and work with Nirvana, Earl Sweatshirt, The Chemical Brothers, Nas, and Run the Jewels.

Drawing on influences like Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Japan’s David Sylvian, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Harrison’s performances sit atop layered, hand-played grooves that hover between organic and electronic, at times echoing trip-hop. The songs were further shaped by Godrich’s Ultraísta and Atoms for Peace bandmate Joey Waronker on additional percussion. Famed composer/arranger David Campbell, who previously worked with Godrich on the former’s son Beck’s Sea Change, offers string arrangements on tracks like “In Between” that add both scale and depth. The result is what the band describes as a kind of earthbound space rock: transportive and far reaching, without leaning on psychedelic cliché.

The band’s name carries its own meaning for Harrison. “Dragonflies are a symbol of spiritual enlightenment,” he explains. “When Nigel suggested the name I was like, yeah, sold, done. Whenever I see a dragonfly, it’s magical.”

Dragonflies arrived at a moment of change and stillness for both musicians. After two decades based primarily in Los Angeles while fronting thenewno2 and scoring film and television, Harrison had recently returned to his native England. Godrich, meanwhile, had pulled back from touring and recording altogether. Out of that quiet, the two found room to chase new sounds in tandem.

Dragonflies
Dragonflies
Tracklisting
Dark Horse Records/BMG

Slower
Setting Sun
Straight line
Heart or Head
Ophelia
The Weight
In Between
End of World

pre-order Dragonflies by Dragonflies HERE