Premiere: Harriet, “Heavy Petting”

Not many fans have the opportunity to retroactively dive into the process of the creation of their favorite band’s first album. That won’t be true for fans of LA-based band Harriet, who have put together a BitTorrent bundle called How To Make Music, a song and video package that gives an in-depth look at the three year process behind the writing and recoding of the band’s upcoming LP American Appetite. Part of that bundle is unreleased track “Heavy Petting,” a sultry pop-rock track about, well, heavy petting.

“The inspiration behind the song is “sexual healing” – it’s about the clarity that sex can bring to a relationship that feels lost,” says singer Alex Casnoff. “The relationship could be on the verge of falling apart, and suddenly one night together and it feels like the whole world stops. Everything is perfect. It’s totally fleeting, but it feels infinite.”

The bundle features an in-depth look at the different iterations of the tracks on American Appetite, most of which went through several major overhauls.

“‘Heavy Petting’ had two major changes that I remember,” says Casnoff. “Henry, our drummer, basically told me he thought the chorus melody was boring. I think his exact words were “you could do better.” My immediate reaction was most likely defensive, but I think after he left I rewrote the chorus melody and lyrics completely, because I knew he was right. I tried to give it as much vertical movement as I could.”

Check out the track below. American Appetite drops January 29 via Harvest Records.