WZLY Interviews: Harmony of Harmony's Cuddle Party

By Lucy Humphrey ‘24

WZLY recently met with Harmony of Boston-based Harmony’s Cuddle Party to discuss her newest work. A native to the area, Harmony creates music that is raw and honest, and she puts on an incredible, high-energy show. Read on for information about cassette recording, the importance of album art, and the transparency of her work.

WZLY: So to start, do you want to give a little introduction as to who you are?

Harmony: Yeah. So I'm Harmony Pulaski. I am sort of the main person in Harmony's Cuddle Party. Sort of started as a very, like, twee pop-centric project that was really about simplicity. I always say it was about like, honesty and hopefulness, but I think it has mostly become about honesty, which is fine. But yeah, I like to record on cassette mostly, most of my songs that are out have been recorded on a four-track cassette recorder that I use, and I'm an enthusiast. I'm trying to do more stuff to kind of bring together people who record stuff with cassettes because I'm really passionate about that stuff. But yeah, just a musician songwriter, a creative mind.

WZLY: What first got you into making music and then could you expand more on your interest in cassette recording? That's interesting.

Harmony: Yeah. So I mean, I got into making music really young, I think […] I was just really into music, and there were a lot of old family videos of me dancing to a lot of like, I know I liked Lenny Kravitz and like Van Halen a lot. Um, AC/DC was a big one. And then like, obviously the Guitar Hero games and stuff were major in introducing me to a lot of music.

But yeah, I think my parents saw that and were encouraging enough to kind of be like, all right, we can get you a guitar and like, lessons and things. And that's the only thing I've really taken lessons for.

But as far as the creative part, it was just sort of like a thing I felt compelled to do. I don't know why, but I do remember when I was young […] I was really obsessed with this DVD my family had of like, whatever tour U2 was on in 2000, and I would sort of try to, like, emulate Bono on the couch, like I would pretend that I was Bono.

But yeah, the cassette stuff, like, what sort of stuff are you interested in?

WZLY: I just don't know much about the recording process of music. So, why cassettes?

Harmony: I'd always been interested in analog recording since I was younger, and I went to school for music production, and a lot of that was pretty much all taught in the digital realm. And when I was younger and in projects before Harmony’s Cuddle Party, I was recording all digitally, just because that's all I had access to. Just like a laptop interface, some microphones. But it was something that always interested me. And then I traded a family friend some pedals for a four-track machine that he saw as useless.

At the end of the day, the biggest factor that keeps me coming back to cassette is just that the workflow makes more sense for me than digital, like having the physical knobs. Because it's like tape and you can distort it and sort of saturate it in certain ways. Everything sort of melds together very naturally, whereas in digital, I always feel like I have to record a lot more stuff. Like the first Harmony’s Cuddle Party EP and then Formal Invitation were all done on a cassette recorder with some overdubs done digitally. So like once I had transferred them to my computer, I did some stuff digitally, but then on the record I put out over the summer, We Wish To Live Forever, that was more like half [cassette] and half [digital]. And it definitely—I'm not unhappy with the results—but it just made it take a lot longer. And like in general with digital because it doesn't naturally all mesh together just because it's recording everything very clean and essentially in separate little channels, I always feel like I need to add so much stuff. So I feel like those compositions on that record are much more dense than the other records, which I'm fine with, but I've become more interested in more minimalist stuff over the years. And yeah, it was just that interest.

And then recently I've been trying to, I think I mentioned, get different people who record with cassette. I've been sort of putting together this compilation of people who are currently active and record on cassette, and that's been a really fun process because I've been able to get a hold of a lot of artists who I really respect to do a lot of that, as well as a lot of local artists that I wasn't aware of that were doing it, but it always is just great to me […].

I'd love to get like an eight-track one day because, yeah, I don't know, it'd be interesting. More to work with, I suppose. But yeah, I think in general just analog works better for my workflow, and that's why I keep doing it mostly.

WZLY: Speaking of the other local bands that you're recording with, is there anyone that you would like to recommend or that you look up to?

Harmony: Most of the people I really like that are making stuff are all associated with Denizen Records, and that's sort of like Brad Barker, Mairead Band, Gavin Caine, Kayde Hazel. Who else is on that? Like the Calendars are sort of associated, and pretty much all of those people record to cassette or some sort of analog. And I think records that came out this year were like—the Alaska’s just put one out, and then Mairead Band put one out over the summer, and the Mairead Band one was done on a four-track, and I think the Alaska’s was done on actually a reel to reel like 1 or 2-inch tape or something […] I haven't really messed with the reel-to-reels before, but yeah, that's a major one […]

I've been talking to this kid Christian. I want to put the name out there because I forget the band name, but sort of through playing a show, I found out that he's recorded a cassette, and that's really great. Um. Oh! Gum fairy. Yeah. The record that he put out was cool. It's a really good band name. And then also Marcy the Baptist is really great and just put out one of my favorite songs of the year with Thetamancer, who's also really great. Yeah, so that's a couple that I would list.

WZLY: Do you have, like, a favorite song that you like to perform? Because I've been to some of your shows and I see repeats…

Harmony: Oh, yeah. It really changes from show to show even. It'll kind of depend. I mean, someone pointed out that “My Mind Is Chasing You” has stayed in the setlist since, like we started performing that. So I haven't grown sick of doing that one at the very least. And I think it's the only one I can think of that's consistently been in the setlist, probably since it was introduced, but maybe there was a show or two where that didn't happen. See because now the lineup is different again, it's changed completely. But with the lineup we had, I think you were at one of the Pasta Planet shows we played.

WZLY: I was.

Harmony: Yeah, yeah, the two Pasta Planet shows we played in August were really good.

WZLY: I would agree.

Harmony: And like—thank you—yeah.

And like Zeb on bass was a great addition. I think the versions that we were playing of “A Chance to Be Mean” then were really fun and just like, just kind of introducing more jammy elements that I've been wanting to do. And then on this more recent set that you also saw where I was playing drums and singing, I really like “I've Got a Heart Full of Loving for You” off the new album. And in general, it’s kind of funny because I was uncertain how I felt about playing drums and singing. After all, I knew I could do it, but I wasn't sure if it would, like, convey energy well. But I felt really good about the rehearsals and the show, and my guitarist Matt brought up the point that, like, I've always sort of been the conductor of the band, and now I'm fully in the conductor's seat. And also we were a lot more freeform with it because of that, like just having three people, and like Matt and I kind of go back on doing a lot of free jazz jams together.

And so that's where there were a lot of moments where we just kind of did what we wanted for a bit […] For that show in particular, I really liked the version of my message we played. I'd always wanted to play it with more of like, a kind of campy shuffle beat, and that was really fun.

But yeah, those are some that come to mind. I don't have any exact answer, but those are the songs that come to mind.

WZLY: No, because I was actually thinking about Owen because he, your drummer left and I noticed that you played the drums and I was just wondering if, like, it changed how you performed, because in the first show, no second show that I saw, you were like rolling and screaming on the floor and stuff. And you can't really do that if you're drumming.

Harmony: Yeah. It's interesting. What was the first show you saw? Were they both Pasta Planet?

WZLY: No no no no, it was Trendy Shit Town.

Harmony: Oh, with Kleenex Girl Wonder. Hell yeah! Yeah. He's going to be on the cassette compilation as well. I'm excited, but let me think. Yeah.

I mean that was my biggest concern because I really like being able to do that. And did you see the one where Owen was—was it Owen Schmidt’s Cuddle Party? Hell yeah! Um, that was a really interesting one because this happens like every few shows where I blow my voice out and just kind of give up, which always hinders interesting results. But as far as if it changed the way I perform?

So what I noticed from the performance where I was doing drums is: that I felt good about it, but I was much more aware of the people in the audience because drumming and singing is definitely tougher. It's not undoable for me, but it made me more engaged. Whereas like playing guitar and singing I've done my whole life, so it feels very natural. And so often I'll kind of not really look, I'll close my eyes a lot. But with drumming, I was keeping my eyes open the whole time and really, I couldn't move around much. So I was looking around the room and I became very aware of, like, everything. That's the biggest change I noticed, honestly.

But yeah, in general, I don't know, finding different ways to sort of feel like I'm conveying an energy I like because on the guitar I'm more free to just kind of move very intensely. But drums are inherently sort of intense, so I don't know. Yeah, I'd say that's the biggest thing.

WZLY: Do you have any upcoming shows?

Harmony: Currently? No, actually, I am very much not someone who tries to get shows, really. And so like all the shows that we play are mostly just like people I know asking me. I don't really like reaching out to people for shows. It's just a hassle to me.

But like, yeah, as of right now, nothing. I have no releases planned as of right now. I do have a lot of new songs that I could release, but actually, I guess a big thing is that, again, I don't know when this will come out, but the next thing I plan on releasing is a new single at the first week somewhere near the beginning of January, and it's going to be a remix by Marcy the Baptist as the B-side, so I'm really excited about that. And then my friend Amani did the album art, which I recently realized is borderline furry porn, but it's pretty sick.

WZLY: Very cool. That'll be interesting at least. I know when I played your stuff in the car for my friends, they really liked your album art.

Harmony: Oh yeah, I always want to get good album art. I mean, like, it's really interesting because when I started the project, I wanted it to be more cohesive than anything else I'd done. And so I had Hayden do the first work, and I loved that album cover, and then I kept hitting them up and they seemed really busy, so I couldn't get it again. I was like, well, that kind of foils my plan to make it very consistent.

But then I hit up—these are both people I actually went to school with who were in the art program—but Sam Swap, who did Formal Invitation and We Wish to Live Forever, it’s just really great. And especially, I mean he even said it himself, really reached some sort of new level he'd never reached before with the We Wish to Live Forever art, which made me happy to hear that. Like that did something for him. And then Return from Pathetic that just came out. That was just me and a photograph from a source. That's probably obvious, but I won't name it just to be safe [laughs].

The cover for Harmony’s Cuddle Party’s album We Wish to Live Forever, is now available on Bandcamp and Spotify (cover courtesy Harmony’s Cuddle Party).

WZLY: When you posted about your latest album, I was looking at the comment “I did not feel good when I made this. I feel better now”.

Harmony: Yeah, no yeah. Well, it's interesting how much that was reflected in the songs and recordings themselves, like on a production aspect, like that was me going full pure cassette again after We Wish to Live Forever, which is like the most expansive, grand project I've ever done.

Like, I mean, it's only like a 40-minute record, but just like all the different styles and qualities that it goes through, and also just a lot of the weird stuff happening in my life at that time are all very transparently reflected there in a very obvious fashion. It's really funny because, like, I wondered if people thought that I was just telling stories that weren't real, but I was like, no, it's real.

WZLY: I was wondering about that.

Harmony: No, no, no! Yeah yeah yeah! Because like I played the Cuck Zine people. I don't know if you've been that way.

WZLY: No, I haven’t.

Harmony: It's good. Yeah, it was cool. I played a show there last month, and it was good. And in the zine that they were distributing, someone wrote a very nice and like, thoughtful review on We Wish to Live Forever, and they were treating it like it was real. And I was like, no, that's good. Like, it is real. That's all real stuff.

But Return from Pathetic was like, I was moving around a lot. I mean, I was in three different housing situations this year just because of very sudden changes. And so like I was moving around a lot and didn't really have much time or anywhere to settle to sort of like record stuff, I was doing stuff very quick and kind of whenever I could. And definitely, the record is—in my mind, it's very dark and muddy and probably my most, like, fucked up sounding record, just like, I don't know.

But I also was thinking when I released the album and I was posting about it on Instagram, and I was posting like a song clip. I was like, what song should I put? I kind of flipped through all of them in every different part. I was like, every isolated part I think is either really sad, embarrassing, or just kind of unsettling. And I couldn't find a good spot, but like, I don't feel regret about it. I was just—it kind of was like, huh? Just hearing isolated parts of this, kind of highlights how sad I was. And, I don't know, the Return from Pathetic—the pathetic in question is a mindset. It's from feeling pathetic.

WZLY: I know when I first listened to it, I was at work and I was like, this doesn't sound like something I'm supposed to be—I work at a preschool—and I was like, I don't think this is what I should be listening to at work.

Harmony: It's really depraved. It's probably the most depraved record-like thing I've done, just like. Yeah, just sort of entertains a lot of bad ideas and shit like that.

WZLY: But I mean, it's a good album.

Harmony: Thank you. Yeah, yeah, it's my Pinkerton. I'm a big Weezer head.

WZLY: Is there anything else you wanted to add?

Harmony: I’m trying to think, yeah, I think that should be all. I don't know—if people want to listen to my music. They can.