Strange Girls: Molly Harvey

Today is a very special day for Residents fans, as it happens to be the birthday of none other than Molly Harvey! While not an official member of the band, Harvey has collaborated with the Residents on many of their musical projects. She has lended her voice to albums such as Demons Dance Alone and Animal Lover, and has performed with the group for some of their live shows too. Harvey actually ended up getting to know the Rez entirely by accident; while working in a cafe, she noticed a that one of her customers was wearing an eyeball badge, and asked him if he was a fan of the band. It turned out he was much more than that- he was Homer Flynn, their manager. They struck up a friendship with one another, and that ended up leading to Molly aiding the group after jokingly suggesting that they could use her voice for something. I wish a groovy coincidence like that could happen to me someday. 😛

Molly Harvey began working with the Residents as they began a new era. Their music had become more accessible, but also more melancholy, showing the human, vulnerable side to their weirdness. Her singing voice is more conventionally pretty than that of the Singing Resident (who sounds kind of like a redneck muppet), and is perfect for the type of songs the Rez are more likely to make nowadays. That isn’t to say they’ve thrown away their oddly touching cartoonish silliness; the lyrics are all still strange (though a bit more comprehensible), while for some songs Molly does an unnervingly realistic child’s voice. It really was a stroke of genius to add her to the band, as she brought with her new layers of depth and emotion to the group and to their music. The Residents are known for trying new things, and thanks to her they have ensured that they haven’t gone stale.

Advertisements