Two weeks ago, Australian singer-songwriter and producer Harry Nathan shared an upbeat record titled ‘Harriet Tubman?’. The song, which saw the number one spot on Hype Machine (April 26, 2020), is a hilarious Deep House composition that inserts a conversation with Hollywood actor Ryan Lee, who is known for his roles in movies like ‘Goosebumps’, ‘Super 8’ and ‘This Is 40’. Ironically, he lives across the hall from the musician.
Here’s a word from Nathan about how the track came to be:
Ryan walks into my studio one day and starts talking into the mic, not realising I was recording. The first part of this recording ended up in the outro of ‘Fool For Your Love’, from my first EP. It landed perfectly in that spot. ‘You’ continued talking, as if hosting a fictional radio show, when an imaginary Harriet Tubman decided to join us. I genuinely had no idea who Harriet Tubman was, asking ‘Who’s Harry Tubman?’, to which Ryan replied ‘Underground Railroad Queen’.
My close childhood friend Tass Diakos was in LA visiting from Sydney and suggested we turn it into a house vibe. An hour later we were all in our pyjamas sitting on Ryan’s living room floor, building the song on my laptop. Then we finished the production in my studio with my boy Preston (Walker). It fell together so quickly and easily. – Harry Nathan