Set for release on May 15, Judd Harris’s upcoming EP, ‘The Beach’ feels like an autobiography.
Opening with the jaunty and upbeat ‘Take Me Down’, which outlines his decision to move from the hustle and bustle of life in the US to take it more slowly in the Dominican Republic, ‘The Beach’ from Judd Harris is filled with good advice.
He follows this with ‘Simple Life’, where he and his wife make the bold move to pack up and do things differently. After all, “there’s no guarantee”. The jangly acoustic guitar and percussion of the first two tracks are augmented by the smooth electric guitar sounds of ‘Let You Know’, which feels like a return to the faster pace of New York. Final track on the EP, ‘Endless Days’, maintains some of this fast pace while somehow retaining the laid back vibe of the first two tracks.
“After a friend died suddenly in his 30s, my wife and I decided to change our life. We had always talked about living in the Caribbean and within a year, we landed in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. When lockdown arrived in the D.R., I stopped playing live music and started writing new songs. The Beach EP came out of that time. And much like our friend’s passing jolted us into action, I think the pandemic caused a lot of people to reevaluate their lives in different ways, and especially to question the traditional notions of achievement in America, what’s worth the sacrifice, and what isn’t. It’s like we’d all been sleepwalking and the pandemic shook us awake, wondering how and why we ended up here. The theme of wanting something more runs through The Beach EP, whether that’s a big life change, a childhood dream, a special someone, or just a beach vacation.”
Too many times we save up all our “good times” for that 2 week vacation, when it should be as simple as having a life that we enjoy. The balance between work and life has got out of whack, and when we do have that time off, we tend to spend it worrying about what’s going on “back home”.
Judd Harris has got it worked out. ‘The Beach’ is out May 15. Find out more about Judd Harris and his music online on his official website, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube.
