The Story Behind "Harbor Lights"

Ironically, Harbor Lights actually came before Sun On My Shoulder. 

The title came to me last winter evening while I was picking up takeout in Scituate Harbor. It was the middle of winter, the streets were quiet, and as I drove out of the back parking lot, all I could see were the lights reflecting around the harbor. It had a mood that stuck with me. Even in the coldest months, the harbor never really sleeps. It's a working harbor 365 days a year, and that feeling became the backdrop for the entire song.

Unlike Sun On My Shoulder, this one started with the title and a few lyric ideas before any music was written.

The groove began with a reggae-inspired guitar rhythm, but the real foundation was the relationship between the bass line and the kick drum. I wanted those parts to lock together and drive the song. Once that feel was there, the rest started building naturally with keyboards, synth textures, and layers of guitar.

Then something unexpected happened.

By accident, I left my monitor mix on while recording a couple of vocal tracks. Some of the previously recorded vocals bled back into the microphone. Normally, that's a mistake you'd erase immediately. But when Jon Ellis and I listened back, those ghost-like vocals created this haunting atmosphere. Jon called them "hidden artifacts," and they gave the song a character we couldn't have recreated if we tried.

The original version had 14 vocal tracks with lots of call-and-response parts in the chorus. As the production evolved, though, we realized the song needed something different. We dropped the entire song down a half step, making it easier to sing and giving the track a warmer, heavier feel. That key change also made those accidental vocal artifacts even darker and more haunting.

We stripped away many of the extra backing vocals, re-recorded the lead vocal in the new key, and let those accidental moments become part of the final production. Sometimes the best parts of a recording aren't planned.

Harbor Lights is rooted in Scituate Harbor, where both Rob and I live. While the song is inspired by our hometown, most of the lyrics are intentionally open-ended. Whether you've spent time in Scituate or in another harbor town somewhere else, I hope you can picture your own memories while listening.

There are a couple of local references, though. In the second verse you'll hear a nod to Front Street, the main road through Scituate Harbor, along with a reference inspired by the little stage area at The Hibernian Tavern, where we've played many shows over the past few years.

This song took about three months to complete, and it ended up being one of the most unique recordings I've ever worked on. Between the unexpected production twists, the accidental vocal artifacts, and the evolution of the arrangement, Harbor Lights became something we never could have planned from the start.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.