6/1: Harry the Nightgown—"Ping Pong"
Today, we share our thoughts on "Ping Pong” by the L.A. duo “Harry the Nightgown”.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on "Ping Pong” by the L.A. duo “Harry the Nightgown”.
Harry the Nightgown—"Ping Pong"
Eli Enis:
Harry the Nightgown are a duo from L.A. featuring Cherry Glazerr/The She’s bassist Sami Perez and Spencer Harting, and their debut single “Ping Pong” is a promising introduction. The track falls somewhere between wiry art-rock and upbeat indie-pop; a loopy guitar lead, a playful bassline, and Harting’s Malkmus-ian vocal delivery. Perez also offers some pleasant harmonies that float in and out of the background, which are a nice complement to how the song drifts between its hook and its instrumental groove. It feels a little bit like a jam with a knee-jerk approach to editing, and I like it that way. In a world that’s decidedly un-chill, “Ping Pong” feels like a brief respite of sun-soaked feelgoodery.
Eric Bennett:
Harry the Nightgown has not immediately won my heart with “Ping Pong”. They have, however, won my attention. The band is named after a tree that its member Sami Perez befriended as a child, and honestly that's the best band name origin I've ever heard. This is a song that I found myself immediately reacting to on a physical level, getting pulled into its enthralling rhythm. Plenty of head bobbing and foot tapping were done, and didn’t really cease while the song played out. While it doesn't appear to have much to it, built around a simple noodly guitar line and half-sung/half-sighed vocals, it is freakishly catchy. I know for sure that the guitar hook is going to be bouncing around in my head for days to come.