As outsiders from sleepy coastal towns several countries apart, Stephen Fitzpatrick from Barrow in Furness and Norwegian Audun Laading met for the first time in Liverpool as students.
The pair bonded over a love of peculiar, sardonic humour and wide-eyed observations. Dream-pop outfit Her’s is the natural extension to the solitary decoding of the cultures they grew up in.
Liverpool-based Her’s made a startling entrance upon releasing debut Dorothy – with its darkly swooning intelligence, it made for a starry-eyed introduction to the duo’s throwback sound. Arriving in quick succession is the second half of the release, the wistful and indulgently dreamy What Once Was.
Sometimes we need to take control of our own destiny rather than letting others dictate how it must be, and this is where What Once Was lingers. Where we find Stephen Fitzpatrick beseeched in a state of longing for the past yet fully aware that it’s too late to catch up with his previous life, and the point of dwelling on these emotions is distracting him from really living. Which is beautifully framed by the lyric: “I was at the end of every tether, waiting for what once was…”, sings a weary-hearted Fitzpatrick.
Her’s tap into a fluidly timeless combination of iridescent dream pop and indie jangle, along with simple storytelling, they wield an immensely effective and completely enchanting charm that softens at the touch. Let’s face it, it’s songs like these that start a torrid love affair with a band, and I don’t know about you but we’re more than ready to go along for the ride.
