“Have you heard of PC Music?” was a question I was asked maybe six hundred times over the summer of 2015. The London label, now Columbia imprint, was everywhere this last year, with placements in major commercial spots, quality time slots at several major American music festivals, and of course in everyone’s Soundcloud likes. However, to most surface level fans, Danny L Harle isn’t one of the three or four names that come to mind when thinking of PC Music. With founder A.G. Cook having wide recognition, and label stars Sophie and Hannah Diamond pulling in most of the attention, it was only a matter of time before Harle busted through the finish line tape and delivered a stellar work of music.
Harle’s Broken Flowers is a four song collection that features two collaborations with sweetheart Hannah Diamond, as well as two stand alone tracks. The PC Music sound is undeniably there, especially on “Forever” where Diamond sings “We don’t have much time/ I need you to say/ you just make me feel like we’ll do this forever” while Tiesto-like synths and pounding drums build frantically in the background. However, the reason I’ve always liked Harle’s music is because of all the PC Music artists, Harle seems to work towards his own sound the most. I first heard of Harle’s music when I found his “Special” edit by Billon. I couldn’t stop playing the sped-up, hyper pop edit for almost 6 months. The way I feel about that song is how I feel about the projects title track “Broken Flowers” and the last song “Awake For Hours”. Both are undeniably PC Music, but they possess a more soulful element to them, where as most other PC Music artists replace that element with a plastic wrapped substitution.
It is shocking to me that this EP came out so late in the 2015 year, seeing a lot of the PC Music hype has died down since being everywhere over the summer months. That’s probably just big label bullshit, however. Regardless of hype, Harle’s Broken Flowers is a mature assortment of the wide range of styles the PC Music family can reach. It offers buzzing collaborations from everyone’s favorite Hannah Diamond while letting listeners hear something a little bit less of what they’re expecting. It appears the PC Music takeover hasn’t fully ended.
