“For me, music is a lot about self-discovery and honesty,” Storm says. “My stories have a lot to do with connection and connecting with myself, but also really trying to connect with the world. Growing up, I could never really find my place or fit in – and that’s me being super overly sensitive, which I think is a good thing. When I write a song, it helps me realize that all these emotions and learnings are just part of the human experience, and that it’s okay to have those heavy and introspective thoughts.”
Hailing from just outside Melbourne, Storm discovered music’s therapeutic powers at an early age. Growing up in a culture of toxic masculinity where “boys were boys,” he would listen to artists like City and Colour, Angus Stone, and Jeff Buckley, and feel a little less alone.
Those singer/songwriters inspired Storm to pursue his own music career, and in 2015 he’d made enough money to finance his debut EP Sense of Home, which was produced by his friend and fellow Melbourne Nettwerk artist, Hayden Calnin. Over the next seven years Storm released four more EPs: 'Change It All' (2017), 'Falling Down (2019), 'Be Slow' (2020), and 'Under Dusk' (2022) – the latter a collaboration with Enna Blake. To date, Storm’s songs have racked up over 350 million global streams, with radio plays on Australia’s triple j and the UK’s BBC Radio 2.
For Storm, it’s the connections he makes through music that matter most. “My first ever headline show was something I’ll never forget,” he smiles. "Seeing people in the audience react to my music emotionally was a powerful moment for me and really inspired me to keep going in that direction."
For these reasons and more, it’s easy to forget that 'Wonder, Won’t You?' is Storm’s first full-length record. “It doesn’t really feel like my debut album in a way,” he admits. “I’ve released five EPs. I don’t feel any pressure or buildup.”
Still, these songs needed to be as true to him as possible; that they be his and his alone. “I was pretty adamant from early on that I wanted to write all of it,” he explains. “There’s something so rewarding for me about being able to create something myself. I can’t build a house or fix your oven if it breaks, but I can write a song, so being able to create something myself and stand by it as something that I’ve written means a lot to me.”
Storm collaborated with ARIA Music Award nominee Dustin Tebbutt to produce the record. “He’s one of my favorite producers in this genre, and I felt like he was able to really get what I wanted out of my head and into the song,” Storm says of Tebbutt. “The difference with the EPs is that I really felt like I put a lot of the production ideas and the sonic beds and landscapes into someone else’s hands. With Dustin, because he first and foremost is an artist himself, I always felt like the song and my vision of the song was number one priority,” and that vision comes to life through ten songs aching with vulnerability and raw emotion.
Intimate and unabridged, Harrison Storm’s debut album sees the singer/songwriter at his most vulnerable, his most sensitive, and his most human. These songs helped him work through his own struggles, and now he hopes they help others do the same.
“You’re never alone with your emotions. We all experience suffering, and it’s okay to feel them and reach out. That’s the main thing: People aren’t alone with what they’re feeling.”
