Harrison Tucker's Spring Tape Explores Temporality and Permanence

Spring Tape cover courtesy of Harrison Tucker.

How can a studio recording honor the improvisational character of live music? How can audio alone mimic other sensory experiences? How can a static collection of music evoke the spirit of change, if change by definition resists permanence? I found myself mulling over these questions while listening to Spring Tape, the debut EP from Denver-based guitarist/music director/producer/audio engineer Harrison Tucker. He brings his experience in all of these roles to his first solo endeavor, a four-track fully instrumental EP that he calls “A sonic representation of spring.” Each of the songs is dedicated to one of the five senses: “Feels Like,” “Smells Like,” “Looks Like,” and “Tastes Like.” The obvious omission is “Sounds Like,” but that would be a little redundant here, since the whole project is meant to serve as the season’s soundtrack. 

From improvising live harmonies with The Harrison Tucker Trio to making beats for other artists, Tucker’s artistry is rooted in spontaneity. Whether he’s performing or in the studio, he follows the natural momentum of the music as it emerges instead of chasing a predetermined sound. The composition of Spring Tape wasn’t planned down to the exact note, but it was executed with intention: “The recording process was all about blending the raw immediacy of beat-making with the organic feel of live musicianship. Writing these tunes was all about the beat tape ethos—committing to the first idea and building everything around it,” he says of his approach. “Once the writing/beat-making stage was over, I wanted to highlight how beat-making influences live musicianship, like how drummers emulate the feel of a J Dilla beat. So I went ahead and re-recorded everything with a free-flowing, improvisational mindset. “

Spur-of-the-moment adjustments and instrumental solos throughout Spring Tape conjure the experience of live musicianship, but it wouldn’t really feel like a live jam without some friends. No stranger to collaboration, Tucker regularly plays alongside local acts like Olivia Roumel, Riley J, and RO$$A¥, as well as in his own live band, The Harrison Tucker Trio. The versatile trio features a rotating cast of musicians accompanying Tucker, including Rowan Woodbury, Killian Bertsch, Sam Lewis, and Jordan Henderson, as well as the three musicians featured on Spring Tape: Nate Miller, Will Gaines, and Braxton Kahn. The give and take of the four instrumentalists playing off each other channels the unique vitality of a live show, while also introducing a creative synergy that enables more experimentation in the studio. “I always remind myself to stay open to what other musicians have to say, and collaboration was still at the heart of it,” Tucker explains. “Nate Miller contributed tenor sax, flugelhorn, and trumpet, adding layers of warmth and melodic expression that really remind me of Roy Hargrove. Will Gaines laid down bass—these tunes are so melodic that I knew I had to call Will. It’s incredible to hear the interplay between the horns and bass on this EP. And Braxton Kahn on drums… man! I love how BK strikes the balance between a hip-hop drum machine feel and a more melodic jazz feel. Special shoutout to Ryan Bannigan. He engineered the drum tracking, and helped do some fun shit like re-amping the horns through his crazy lofi pedalboard.”

When Tucker started conceptualizing an EP in January, he once again started with the music and allowed it to guide the direction of the whole project, feeling out the way each song tickled the senses. “Nature has always been an ever-present muse in my creativity. The sensory concept of Spring Tape emerged naturally from the music itself, and the titles capture the full experience of spring through sound,” says Tucker. “For me, harmony and chord changes are closely tied to feelings and expression. Each track evoked a different feeling of spring, and the harmony made it so that the names couldn’t be anything else.” I don’t quite have the same musical vocabulary to explain it, but I hear exactly what Tucker means. Pulling elements from jazz (especially live improvised jazz), soul, R&B, and hip-hop, Spring Tape does, in fact, sound like spring. (The name also plays off of Tucker’s “Obsessive use of Spring Reverb and Tape Machine emulations” throughout the EP) 

Fittingly, the beginning of Spring Tape sounds like an awakening, like Mother Nature triumphantly emerging from hibernation after a long winter. The first few piano notes on the opener “Feels Like” fall like morning dew drops on freshly cut grass. Overall, the EP is mellow yet lively, balancing moments of frenzy and stillness–just like the season itself. As Tucker mentioned in regards to the horns and bass, the instruments appear to be in conversation with each other, forming a sonic ecosystem that aims to mirror the harmony of the natural world. Shimmering cymbals convey the movement of a gentle breeze, while cascading brass notes courtesy of Nate Miller pierce through Tucker’s dreamy guitar riffs like flower buds pushing up through damp soil. 

What struck me the most was how the improvisational influences that shaped the production of Spring Tape echo the fleeting nature of spring. It’s a snapshot of being on the cusp of change, one last lingering look before the present fades into memory. Tucker aligning the transience of spring with the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it excitement of live improv makes Spring Tape a multi-faceted exploration of temporality and permanence. Spring Tape arrived on March 30, just in time for the weather to creep into the 60s and 70s (And then immediately drop back to below freezing, but we back up now!), so I highly recommend listening outside to really take advantage of the fully immersive sensory experience that Tucker’s EP offers. 

And if you’re really a live music purist, you’ve got two changes to see Harrison Tucker perform in April. On Saturday, April 12, he’ll be at Roots Music Project’s Modern Jazz & Soul Fest with Olivia Roumel. Then on Friday, April 18, he’ll join RO$$A¥ for his FoCo MX Set at Gilded Goat Brewing Company.