It would be hard not to blow through all the stop lights on the road with Harte’s captivating new song “Every Single Red Light”, in a word its pure brilliance. Wolfgang Harte delivers a poignant masterpiece written about grief and loss that will send you through a sprint of emotion as you listen to this indie/folk/rock track. There is an unbelievable amount of energy that is emitted from Harte’s voice accompanied by sense of sweet desperation. Your heart pounds in exhilaration when you listen to “Every Single Red Light”, as you tune into the lyrics your heart breaks- “we’d talk about all this life, that just keeps on rushing by, and if only for a moment you’d still be alive”.
The drums are pounding like a beating heart throughout the song, guitars surging in and out through the chords, and the constant unwavering rhythm of the tambourine centers you. Harte’s voice is filled with emotion and passion and still the lyrics in the chorus are almost like an affirmation that calms you “come the night, come whatever, we gotta keep this thing together”; this recurring idiom throughout the song is beautiful. Wolfgang Harte suffered the loss of his mother in 2017 and with that loss he made a decision to return to writing and preforming music. He found his songwriting provided an outlet for his grief and helped him digest the issues of life, death and family that he was thrown into during that time. The future seems very bright for this talented musician, you can tell how immersed Harte is with his music.
“Every Single Red Light” is available to stream on Youtube, don’t miss out on this one!
Check out Wolfgang Heart's interview below!
Hi Wolfgang, thank you for speaking with us! It is so humbling and moving how candid you are with the loss of your mother. How do you feel as the artist telling these intimate stories through song to your audiences?
Thanks. I guess song-writing for me has really been the biggest tool in dealing with my Mums’ death. I’ve tried a lot of different ways, getting smashed constantly to the point of being numb, grief counselling, trying to be healthy, talking with family and friends - all of this stuff helped to some extent and also was unable to help and in the end, I think I feel best about everything when I’m writing about it and putting it all into a song and the actual act of singing and performing is incredibly cathartic. I think the songs that have always resonated with me most are the most personal songs that people write and regardless of whether you’ve shared the specific experience or not, it’s people’s passion and emotion that you relate to or that you enjoy and people seem to response to the music well and I get a lot of nice messages off people, so yeah, for me it’s about keeping my Mum with me as I go forward and I take comfort in her being part of my music and people hearing my songs about her and our life.
What kind of atmosphere do you create for yourself when getting tuned into writing a piece?
In terms of the atmosphere, it’s hard to explain but when I start writing it becomes quite cinematic in my head – I can see a scene, or almost a plot, sometimes just a certain feeling that I’m trying to convey and sometimes Its frustrating because its doesn’t quite come out and other times the thoughts and feelings in my head and the words and melodies I create align and then it flows and it feels electric. Guess it’s like digging for oil.
What music did you grow up listening to and was there a particular artist that made you want to get into music for yourself?
Growing up music was always a huge part of my life. My Mum loved music and some of my earlier and fondest memories are times spent listening to music with her. She would have different CD’s playing from different players around the house and my Dad would be going around turning them off. My mum introduced me to nearly all of m favourite artists, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Don Williams, Kris Krisstofferson, Nanci Griffiths. Van Morrison and Rod Stewart in particular really stoked my desire to write and perform music and later on my Brother introduced me to Springsteen and that was that. Those three artists together I would say are my biggest influences.
What is it like performing as a solo artist as opposed to being part of a group?
Performing as a solo artist has been fucking eye opening. After struggling for ages last year to get steady band members I didn’t wanna let anymore time go by and so I decided to start performing solo. Although its obviously a lot more nerve wracking I’ve enjoyed it. There is an intensity and an intimacy with the songs and with the audience that feels incomparable to performing with a band. That being said, the power and weight of performing with a band is electrifying so I think I will always do a mixture of solo and full band shows.
What are you most hopeful to see happen in the next year?
Over the next year I really just want to be playing as much as possible. I’m really excited to get back into some full band shows which I will be announcing soon and just want to get to a point where I have full band shows and solo shows every month and start to build my fan base. From looking at some early streaming numbers it’s been really interesting to see that my music has been very popular in Ital and Germany so if that continues, it would be cool to get over and do some shows abroad. Guess we’ll have to see what happens with B word hahaha!