Album Notes

"'Underneath Your Umbrella' should come packaged with a time-stained porch, a rickety rocking chair, your favorite half-emptied bottle of whiskey, and an early afternoon thunderstorm." --diaryland


WHAT IS THE HARMONICA POCKET?

The Harmonica Pocket is all about intelligent, indie pop songs for people who like their music outside-the-box.

At the core of the Harmonica Pocket are the mature, swinging tunes of Keeth Monta Apgar (acoustic wah-wah guitar, harmonica, words) whose thick jazz chord progressions and unpredictable changes offer a refreshing twist on today's commercial pop music.

Both live and in the studio, the Harmonica Pocket is made up of a rotating caste of musicians including Lorne Watson (half drum kit / half congas & percussion), Jon Ryser (alto saxophone), Nala Walla (vocal harmony), as well as many other untraditional sounds. The Harmonica Pocket's 2005 release was a collaboration between 25 different musicians and a handful of visual artists.


A LILL BIT ABOUT "UNDERNEATH YOUR UMBRELLA"

The Harmonica Pocket's 2002 release titled "Underneath Your Umbrella" takes musical risks and captures this sound over the course of the 15 tracks. From beatbox and standup bass, to harmonica and didgeridoo, The Harmonica Pocket combines untraditional instruments and pulls it off with refreshing results.

The avante-pop-jazz tunes consciously play with notions of space between the instruments, giving a distinct and important voice to each instrument as it drops in and out of the delicate mix. Players are encouraged *not* to play the entire song and the result is a highly dynamic, low volume, un-crowded sound that will put a smile on your ears.

The Harmonica Pocket is all about coloring outside the lines and invites listeners for a warm drink with fresh, colorful sounds. The well-crafted, intelligent songs showcase a sassy wah-wah distorted acoustic guitar, a drummer who plays a half conga / half drum kit with his bare hands, and pretty vocal and harmonica melodies catchier than a velcro shoe.

Stylistically, the songs cover much ground. Consider "On The Rail," a bluesy tale documenting the final 5 minutes of a downhearted man's life as he lays his head on a railroad track and waits for the next train to come. From the playful "Spiders In My Breakfast," a children's song written from the perspective of a spider as she tickles her way from a bowl of cereal through the inner workings of an unlucky eater's digestive system, to the pop-jazzy tune "A Couple More Raindrops," which uses hand claps and tapped harmonics to simulate raindrops, The Harmonica Pocket builds lyrical and musical images with a strong sense of fluency and purpose.

But don't just rely on the written word, put The Harmonica Pocket in your ear.

Check out the HarmonicaPocket.com website for *many* more unreleased, full length, high quality mp3s.