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Nov 19, 2020 Harmony Byrne By Caleb Campbell Photography by Carl Lindeberg

Australian singer/songwriter Harmony Byrne first stunned listeners with her wide-ranging debut, Heavy Doors, which saw her explore folk, alt-country, blues, and gospel with a confident yet introspective voice. In the midst of quarantine, Byrne decamped back to the studio to record a forthcoming new EP of acoustic demos entitled The Songs I Sing When No One Is Listening. The first of these demos, the stark “The Good Days & The Bad Days,” is premiering here with Under the Radar.

Befitting the solitary recording process, Byrne’s latest single is raw and unadorned. Accompanied only by the pastoral strum of her acoustic guitar and a delicately hummed counter melody, Byrne delivers a soft but devastating vocal performance. The simple recording and presentation belie a powerful emotion behind the track as Byrne forms a plaintive comfort amidst the world’s trials. She reflects on tragedy and addiction, yet there are rays of hope through the clouds. She reminds the listener, “Don’t question the good days / Don’t feel bad for the bad / It’s not your fault you can’t find happiness / In a world that doesn’t care when you’re sad.” Byrne’s latest lilting ballad is a loving reminder to cherish the fleeting moments of joy and an offer of companionship and comfort for the bad times.

Byrne says of the track, “‘The Good Days & The Bad Days’ is the first song I wrote off the forthcoming EP after COVID hit Melbourne. I was (still am) feeling a lot of empathy for our society, which has been engineered to capitalize on our insecurities, making us feel like we aren’t enough, and even pitting us against each other. Although ‘the world’ might not give a shit, there are those of us that do. I just wanna poke that shithole in the butt so we can all live our lives with love and respect for each other and our planet. This song is somewhat a prayer of surrender and a plea for connection.” Listen to the track below and presave the song ahead of its wide release here.