Harmony Woods - Nothing Special

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*Purchase includes instant download of 'Nothing Special' after checkout.

Philadelphia, when viewed through the lens of someone on the cusp of adulthood, is a giant creative playground. There's always something buzzing from the amps in a row home basement, another voice waiting to be unleashed from its shell. Harmony Woods – the moniker of Philly's own Sofia Verbilla – offers a parallel perspective on her debut LP, Nothing Special: a lens into the scenes behind her home's creative spaces and the relationships that fuel them.

With Modern Baseball's Jake Ewald behind the boards, one could be quick to loop Harmony Woods in with the Philly band's hyperfocused storytelling. Verbilla does take cues from Ewald's notes from the midnight scenes at Drexel University, but adapts the playbook to create a more literary angle. Songs about red cups and frat boys nursing kegs spill into one another without pauses, like a self-conscious beer-sloshing at a basement party. Sofia's steady register anchors the madness, while four short bursts of contemplation - labeled "vignettes" in the track listing - measure the pace of emotional fever. Verbilla does her own milemarking, too, where "Jenkintown-Wyncote" closes distance between two people with steady guitar percolation and regional rail, only for "Parking Lot" to warm with anxious closeness and explode under the pressure of rattling notes which wander away as fast as they're welcomed. The richness and power of the instrumentals spiraling beneath Sofia's bell-like vocals can be best distilled in a line repeated through Nothing Special like a wide-eyed mission statement: "I think I might need you." Harmony Woods is as much about the parts as it is the whole, a unit built and bred by the lesser-known landmarks it charts.

Part concept album and part meditation on the human spectrum of love – through mental hurdles, interpersonal health, and beyond –Nothing Special knows what it wants to be and where it best thrives: while looking inward, outwardly.

- James Cassar

"Sofia Verbilla is an acute observer of the world around her, full of curiosity and empathy, and she folds a generous amount of narrative detail into the band's debut, Nothing Special."  - NPR

"Harmony Woods is melodic, vulnerable, emo-ish indie rock, but it’s closer in sound to MoBo’s melancholic songs than their more popular, peppier stuff." - BrooklynVegan

"...an album full of fuzzy hooks and pointed observations." - Stereogum

"The album is rich in instrumental tones and melodies — folksy acoustic guitar and racing emo riffs alike provide a backing to Verbilla’s commanding alto vocals. " - WXPN 

"Nothing Special is a nontraditional fairytale of indie rock, and Harmony Woods are without a doubt a band to continue following on their own journey." - The Alternative

European customers can purchase the album here.

Track Listing

1. Vignette #1
2. The Best Things
3. Jenkintown-Wyncote
4. Negro y Azul
5. Vignette #2
6. Speckled
7. Parking Lot
8. The Worst Things
9. Vignette #3
10. Renovations
11. Vignette #4
12. Equinox

Recorded at The Metal Shop in Philadelphia, PA
Produced/engineered/mixed by Jacob Ewald
Mastered by Ian Farmer

All songs written by Sofia Verbilla
Vocals/rhythm guitar/keys by Sofia Verbilla
Lead guitar by Brendan Lukens
Bass by Sophy Kelsall
Drums by Jeremy Berkin
Artwork by Emily Dubin
Emotional support and validation by Jowan Mead

Pressing Info

Vinyl -

1st Pressing:
/100 White LP
/200 Pink LP

Housed in a full color vinyl LP jacket with lyric insert.

Images shown are mockups. Due to the delicate nature of vinyl manufacturing, actual outcome may vary.

Cassette Tape -
Pro-dubbed and housed in a clear cassette case with full-color j-card and download code. Limited to 100.