Harvey Causon’s debut album, Square Breath is one crafted through a sustained and deep meditation that taps into his writerly subconscious. His stream of consciousness lyrics flow between social and ecological questions, and reflections on love and heartbreak, with the kind of ease that can only be enjoyed in complete creative control. Such control derives from the rejection of an insatiable music industry that pits artists and their work against each other in constant competition.
After rising through Bristol’s underground experimental scene, Causon’s talents as a multi-instrumentalist, producer and vocalist caught the attention of British musician, Sampha. Now co-signed by the artist, Causon toured the festival circuit as part of Sampha’s band last summer and is set to join the band again for the US leg of Sampha’s Lahai tour. We caught up with Causon to chat about his debut album and all his thoughts, from reflections on modern music to the fruitfulness of creative collaboration, that went into its construction.
Hi Harvey, it’s great to be interviewing you again! Where are you writing to us from? How are you feeling for the album release?
Hey, thanks so much for speaking to me again. I’m currently on a tour bus driving through Texas. I’m feeling what I imagine dropping my kids off at school for the first time is like; a bit daunting but ultimately a big old sigh of relief.
Tell us a bit about how the album came about. You wrote one of your singles, Impasse over 5 years ago, so is this album something that’s been brewing for a while?
I just ultimately got tired of packing everything into one song and the structure of the industry that makes you feel like you need to be releasing a single every month. None of my favourite artists growing up were doing that and I was lucky to have written hundreds of tracks over lockdown so it felt like the right time to tell a larger story and pull some songs together from the vault; old and new.
What would you say are the defining themes in the album? Could you boil it down to one concept?
I have always had a tendency to breathe in a square motion when I am thinking deeply or intensely about things. Square Breath is a documentation of my most fervent emotional responses to anxieties and inspirations from the world we live in. I have wanted to tell a larger story in album form for a long time, and these songs crafted alone and with multiple collaborators in many different places offer a collection of moments of intensities that in some way or another reference a shortness or an abundance of breath; a constant that connects us to the living world.
Moments in the album explore toxic masculinity and questions around what kind of stories will be told about us in the future if we continue on our ecologically destructive path. Others comment on the disintegration of creative industries, with competition between artists being bolstered by capitalism, the regurgitative nature of AI, the loss of interest in the nuances of human creativity and frustrations at our increasingly shortening attention spans. Love and heartbreak are also deeply wound into other tracks and offer moments of hope amongst the murkiness. In turn I think Square Breath is about the confines of what connects us all the most; the air we breathe and the vibrations that we leave behind.
How did your plans for the album develop over time?
When I wrote the bookend opening and closing tracks Winded Abdomen and Memorabilia that’s when I knew I was ready to make an album. It felt like writing a book with the beginning and the end done it was more about working on the journey in between and which tracks to finish off and pull into the mix. I lost one track that I loved to a corrupted file and could never quite recreate it right and loads just missed the cut but I followed my gut in terms of getting it wrapped up. I think something that really helped pull it together towards the end was arranging the strings and brass sections across the board. Magnus Westwell, one of my favourite composers and choreographers, was instrumental for this, it felt great being able to let them do their thing with the violin and bring themselves to it rather that working with usual strictly scored strings with players on a tight deadline.
Your lyrics tend to be quite brooding, introspective, and often intensely personal. Do you feel like music helps you to work through your thoughts, or is it more so just a means of communicating them? Is there something therapeutic in it for you?
I think writing has just always been a vessel to express myself, I often think of it like meditation or accessing a flow state or a tool to tap into the sub-conscious. In that way I’ve never really known anything else and I definitely feel like after a while.
If I haven’t written something I start to feel agitated or have more sleepless nights and wake up at 4am with this strange square breathing that the album is named after.
A lot of the time I’m not really aware of the meaning of the lyrics straight away. They definitely feel like they come from a subconscious and I have to sometimes painfully make sense of what I really think about something by reading them back. Having said that I find constructing songs with different layers of meaning; that being the lyrics combined with the textures, the mix and the videos, very therapeutic and a bit like a web or a 4D box to paint within.
When musicians and artists are so closely scrutinised on the media stage, do you ever worry about revealing too much in your lyrics, or feel some apprehension releasing your most personal works into the world?
I think being as vulnerable as possible is the best way to connect to people. Being dishonest with my work or covering something up would feel wrong to put into the world. I think there’s also merit to being held responsible for your words or actions.
In your last interview with METAL, you spoke of possibly interlacing some political or social commentary in future works. Is there any of that in this album? How do you navigate pressures to address political or social events as an artist with some platform?
This first half of the album is full of a lot of political and societal commentary. I think since the lockdown I have had an overwhelming amount of frustration towards the way that the government and the world is dealing with a lot of issues. Winded Abdomen is a call to arms to break down toxic male traits. Psycho is a comment on how political and institutional systems within society uphold and encourage competition. How ego driven leaders distort reality and pit people against each other for financial gain. Laminar Flow and Myelin are comments on how technologically-centric we have become and a pent up frustration of mine at how companies feed off of our shortening attention spans. Folklore asks a question of what kind of stories we want to be told about us in the future if we continue on our ecologically destructive path and Nostalgia reflects on the regurgitative nature of AI and the loss of interest in the nuances of human creativity.
I don’t feel like I particularly have that much of a platform so perhaps it’s easier for me to speak my honest mind but I think if it feels right to communicate your frustrations then you should do. Saying that, I think there’s huge value in art for art’s sake and that artists should not feel obligated to write about issues they don’t engage with but I think using the platform you have to speak up is important.
Could you tell us about the relationship between music and visuals across your work? This album feels like it has such a clear, cohesive vision across the music videos, album artwork, graphics, etc. I’m wondering if this visual aspect was in your mind when you were making the music, or if you came to it later?
I mentioned in the last interview that dance was a big part of my childhood and since then the London queer and dance scenes have become a huge part of my life. I’d say 80% of my London friends are part of a queer dance community and that has definitely rubbed off on my work and visual identity. I’ve developed really strong working relationships with incredible artists like Folu Odimayo, Katie Scott and Kat Collings (Node.TV), Magnus Westwell and Genevieve Reeves and was lucky to work with them all on the visuals building up to the album. I liked being able to mix more higher concept and heavily planned music videos with more last-minute VHS late night guerrilla shoot type visuals. Working with movement continues to fascinate me and I can’t wait to bring it to a live environment.
I really love your idea behind Psycho and its accompanying music video. What has been your experience moving through the creative industry in the UK? Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians or other creatives trying to navigate it at the moment?
Honestly writing this album has been quite tough, it’s made me realise how fast the industry is and if you’re not feeding the machine or telling people how great you are you’re very quickly forgotten about. It’s also been a blessing because I’m releasing this album completely independently and have full control over my creative output which is a blessing. It would also feel very hypocritical and disingenuous to release a track like Psycho on a label with some large backing. I think what I’ve realised and what my advice would be to anyone trying to make a living in this industry is that: artists and community in many different forms are always your best friend. Pandering to what the industry makes you think it wants from you is ephemeral and will not create a sustainable environment to create in. Unless you want to be a quick success TikTok superstar of course, which is fine. I think also just knowing what you want and why you’re doing something is important.
Is there anyone who has really helped you navigate the creative industry?
My partner Genevieve Reeves is one of the smartest and most eloquent, inspiring  and determined people I know. Her consistent advice and reckonings with an adjacent industry has helped me build this record.
I have to ask you about touring as part of Sampha’s band this Summer – can you find the words to describe what that experience was like? Does Sampha’s work or approach to music inform or inspire your own work in any way?
Sampha is an absolute gem. We are constantly in awe of him as an artist and human being in the band. He has a very collected and inspiring energy as if he’s listening to everything happening in a room and his dedication to making music at all moments is really infectious. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have a mentor and friend that I grew up listening to and playing his music feels otherworldly a lot of the time. Sometimes have to pinch myself when we’re playing in all these incredible places.
Finally, what’s your top three most listened to artists right now? (We won’t judge if one of them is yourself!)
Eberhard Weber More Colours and Delirium are my go-to for a bit of escape.
Sampha, I’ve been obviously hearing a lot of Sampha and his WIP’s and the old stuff for me never gets boring, playing Without and his melodies live always reminds me how many crazy tracks he’s written and worked on. Like Don’t Touch My Hair, come on!
Tatyana Jane is someone I’ve been working with on a VR dance installation put me onto Tatyana.
Ouri bt002: self hypnosis tape and blueprints of us are so beautiful.
Nicolas Jaar’s new albums are also pretty interesting listens.