It's almost three long years since the release of Essex-based singer, songwriter, and pianist Harry Gardner's debut EP, Younger, which has matured like a fine wine thanks to his penchant for ballads, and natural affinity for truly timeless songwriting.
In amongst the consistently evolving world of pop sits a consistent demand for this more sombre, downtempo and emotively rich music with recent artists such as Finneas and Lewis Capaldi rapidly becoming household names, and with his stunning return, "Invisible Man," Gardner is well on his way to joining them.
The track starts with a sublimely pensive piano motif, which despite is melancholic tone, still twinkles with a touching sensation of hope. This duality of emotion sustains as the track progresses, seeing the hope evolve into the acceptance that Gardner alludes to in an email statement regarding the song, of which he shares, "'Invisible Man' came about after a party I went to where I felt like a ghost. A person who had once been invested in me, barely acknowledged me, so it’s a reflective, sad song about coming to terms with not being at the forefront of someone's mind anymore. It’s about stepping back into a world that you’re no longer part of and realising it’s carried on turning without you. Listening closely you can hear the distant murmur of voices in the track which is a tribute to the moment that inspired the song.”
With predominantly just his voice and piano, "Invisible Man" wholly consumes you for all of its three-minute run time, and with skill and emotional maturity that far outweighs his humble twenty years on this planet, let's hope this isn't the last we hear of Harry Gardner for now.
