Cut of the Day: "Tiny Hands," Forbidden Friends (a.k.a. Hutch Harris)

Uh, where the hell in Portland does Hutch Harris live? On the new single from the Thermals frontman's solo project Forbidden Friends, released to the Internet today through Kill Rock Stars and Pitchfork, Harris claims to reside on a quiet street "where the temperature is always 75 degrees" and it never rains. It must be the same place where Isaac Brock, the Decemberists and all the city's other uber-successful musicians hang out.

"The lyrics are mostly lies," Harris explains in an e-mail. "When in reality, I live at the bottom of a really loud street where it's usually cold and it rains all the time."

Despite its utopian daydreaming, "Tiny Hands" is actually a stripped-down version of the already pretty bare-bones stuff Harris does with his regular band. While the Thermals still play with the vigor of young kids bashing away in their garage, "Tiny Hands" sounds like Harris retreating to his bedroom. Or at least his kitchen, based on the clinking percussion provided by Michael Lerner of Telekinesis and fellow Thermals Kathy Foster and Westin Glass -- the latter two are also apparently going to help Harris translate his tunes live.

Wait, this is a solo project, right?

"I am always writing songs. Many of them wouldn't work with the Thermals," Harris writes. "I wanted to do a project that was high energy but low volume, with a slight retro feel."

KRS plans to release "Tiny Hands" b/w "For You" as a seven inch and digital download on March 11. Harris says there are no plans for a full-length, but there will be more singles, with the second possibly dropping this summer. In addition, Forbidden Friends have announced its first two gigs, both of which are at venues that promise to be packed to the point of suffocation:

February 2011
26 -- Portland, OR @ Backspace -- w/ Ted Leo - all ages

WWeek 2015