Four years after the release of their debut album Ministry of Love(2013), Los Angeles duo IO Echo is back with an airy distillation of gloom. The darkness hangs in the air, but the song's goth influences manifest in lead vocalist's Ioanna Gika's ambivalence towards life (instead of goth's typically more overt sonic evocations of fatalism): 'Who are you? What's the point, what's the point of this?' Gika's vocals remain ethereal and distant throughout most of the song, gaining a hint of steely resolution in its chorus: "I'm coming up / Realizing you believe / You can never do enough harm to me". Thanks to Leopold Ross and producer Doc McKinney (The Weeknd), "Harm" manages to achieve a middle ground between goth's unflinching embrace of morbidity and shoegaze's penchant for mind-altering introspection.
In a press release, Gika explained the difficult personal circumstances that inspired the track: "I was faced with a personal seismic shift. Several of my immediate family members died, including my father and stepfather, and my long term relationship disintegrated. My remaining family moved from Southeast Asia back to Greece to find it in economic disrepair, while the U.S. slid towards political turmoil. I felt as though I was standing in the ocean in front of an inescapable wave. When there is no way out, no option, other than to brace yourself and let it hit and flow through you with its unstoppable tide. 'Harm' was written during this time, and reflects the emotions and clarity that can come from facing a destructive situation head on."
The accompanying music video features DIY-distortions courtesy of Gika's iPhone, as well as some disorienting close-ups of octopus tentacles.
