Harry Zimm’s upcoming album, Once and One Time Only, is the result of simple, earnest dedication to creating something beautiful. An exploration into the Buddhist concepts of emptiness, impermanence, and the illusion of self. A jazz-dusted pop record with a nod to the great ’70s soft rock artists like Steely Dan and Michael McDonald, blended with the delicate vocals reminiscent of Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter. Produced, recorded, and mixed by Matt Pence at Echo Lab Studios, the songs collectively formed a distinctly natural and personal shape.
“Empty One,” the latest single from Zimm’s anticipated new LP, is a gentle ballad of poetic proportions. There is an open-hearted vagueness to this single that allows every intricate detail of the performance to shine, creating a welcoming atmosphere with warm colors and lush textures. There is something so powerful about the unassuming nature of “Empty One,” almost as if the emotions Zimm is detailing in the lyrics are too heavy to be drowned out by fancy production tricks. The artist opts for a subdued, jazzy ambiance, allowing his vocals to wrestle with a heavy heart and paint vivid imagery. “Empty One” is just a hint of the magic that is seemingly contained on Once and One Time Only, an album that is shaping up to be something special for Zimm.
“I wrote this song after learning about The Diamond Sutra. It’s a Buddhist teaching that deals with the perception of reality and the illusion of self,” explains Zimm. “It kind of messed me up for a while, and this song is a reflection of me processing that.”
