LISTEN AND SHARE “SUMMER”
BUY / STREAM “SUMMER” HERE
SCOTT HARDWARE’S BALLAD OF A TRYHARD, OUT MARCH 4, 2022
VIA TELEPHONE EXPLOSION
Photo Credit : Kirk Lisaj // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
How do you self-stabilize amidst ongoing crisis? Or, more crucially, what does it mean to question how much control we have over our collective well-being? On Ballad of a Tryhard, the third album by Scott Hardware, the moniker of Toronto-based musician and composer Scott Harwood, he attempts a response by honouring the splendor of “living between emotions.” It’s an album where a rich inner monologue, and the undefined space between reflection and realization can offer an invaluable reprieve.
Over luminous keys and sky-sweeping melodies, Harwood reverse engineers his capabilities as a composer skilled in the art of complexity to deliver his boldest album to date — unselfconsciously ambitious Y2K rock; a reimagination of experimental adult contemporary that tweaks the limits of soft rock with curiosity and appreciation.
For the first single, “Summer” (which features members of Phedre, Lee Paradise, WHIMM, Vallens, Blunt Chunks, and Jaunt), Harwood tries his hand at a bouncy, heartstring ballad built for the open road. "I was born in September, and autumn has always been my favourite season,” says Harwood. “Fall people love to look back and to dwell in the bittersweetness of memory. This song marks a deep dive into my changing thoughts about nostalgia, seeing it change from cozy romanticism to toxic waste."
LISTEN AND SHARE “SUMMER”
BUY / STREAM “SUMMER” HERE
On Ballad of a Tryhard, Hardware conducts a painstaking character evaluation to better understand the world by looking inward. Suspended and exalting, the album bursts with cinematic flourishes that ring with a courageous form of earnestness. Because once you examine the internal toll of people-pleasing, and question if charisma has been overvalued, is there space to imagine a new reality that seeks to uplift rather than wallow — observing sparse moments of beauty and light amidst a world in constant mourning?
Crafted in Spain and co-produced with Matt Smith (Prince Nifty, Lido Pimienta), Ballad of a Tryhard is a snapshot of weeks spent in Elche, a sleepy Mediterranean city on the southeast coast, wandering through emptied-out streets, becoming acquainted with the interiors of a historic apartment block, and living for the first time with a familiar love. With unlimited time on his hands, Harwood would write slowly, playing piano until dawn. The result is an album with ornate and bucolic orchestral arrangements that nod to a background in techno and house with a tangled web of synths and strings.
Prior to his solo work as Scott Hardware, Harwood played with indie rock stalwart Toronto groups like Ostrich Tuning and released ambient pop as Ken Park. A move to Berlin influenced his 2016 debut, Mutate Repeat Infinity, which centered the dancefloor as a site of queer resilience. 2020’s Engel pulled direct inspiration from Wim Wender’s 1987 haunting masterpiece Wings of Desire. In 2021 Harwood was accepted into the Slaight Family Music Lab.
BALLAD OF A TRYHARD
01 Summer
02 Metaterranean
03 Another Day Ending
04 Is Something Wrong Tonight
05 Love Through The Trees
06 Watersnake
07 Dentera
08 Sing Like That
09 Bootleg
10 Underdog
