Video: Io Echo, ‘Harm’

Kevin Bronson on August 1st, 2017

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L.A. duo Io Echo were exploring the dreamy fringes of industrial/gothic pop years before some of the current purveyors (Chelsea Wolfe, Zola Jesus) got their start, but the band’s output (one album, two EPs and a trickle of singles since they first surfaced in 2007) never matched their considerable buzz. The pair — Ioanna Gika and Leopold Ross — re-emerged today with the new single “Harm,” and the news that they have signed to Sargent House. With Gika’s vocals floating like a feather over ominous underpinnings, the song is reminiscent of some of the New Age-y songs on Io Echo’s 2013 full-length “Ministry of Love.”

Co-produced by the duo and Doc McKinney (The Weeknd), “Harm” comes after a time Io Echo have been involved in several soundtrack and collaborative projects — and it reflects a difficult period in the singer-songwriter’s life. “I was faced with a personal seismic shift,” said Gika, who also directed the eerie video. “Several of my immediate family members died, including my father and stepfather, and my long-term relationship disintegrated. My remaining family moved from Southeast Asia back to Greece to find it in economic disrepair, while the U.S. slid towards political turmoil. I felt as though I was standing in the ocean in front of an inescapable wave. When there is no way out, no option, other than to brace yourself and let it hit and flow through you with its unstoppable tide.”

||| Watch: The video for “Harm”