Everybody Digs By Harvey Pink's Flying Bathhouse Is Out Today Independently
[Naarm/Melbourne, Friday 21 February, 2025] On Harvey Pink’s Flying Bathhouse's new record Everybody – out today independently – the Melbourne musician reckons with turbulent emotions. There's despairing lows, melancholic yearnings and moments of clarifying enlightenment, all underpinned by Harvey’s sprawling pop songwriting. Stream/shop HERE.
Everybody Digs sees Harvey’s raw piano ballads written alone evolve into beautiful, baroque compositions that recall the work of experimental 70s pop auteurs such as John Cale. This is an intimate record that offers deeply felt meditations on isolation, loss, love, extinction and the strains of living with bipolar disorder.
Harvey has been an avid presence in Melbourne’s music scene, playing in groups such as 808s and Greatest Hits, Pink Harvest and Bathhouse. His debut solo record Flying Pretty Close to the Sun was released in 2022, which introduced his singular whirring up of indie-pop, psych, jazz and video game scores. The album was met with acclaim, and saw Harvey play shows across Melbourne and California.
Everybody Digs follows up where his debut left off, but finds the artist charting more vulnerable territory; each song a window into Harvey’s inner world of regret, anguish and revelation. “I never thought I’d share these songs with the world because they’re quite personal, but here we are with my private thoughts and feelings on display to everyone,” jokes Harvey. But he hopes the album is ultimately empowering in the way it turns melancholy into optimism. “I like to think the album’s raw moments of despair and stagnation manage to feel strong and courageous.”
Recorded by longtime collaborator Dylan Young (Way Dynamic, Cool Sounds, Snowy Band), the instrumentation of Everybody Digs is kaleidoscopic, moving through jazzy intervals, sweeping psych and theatrical 60s Californian pop. “Working with Harvey Pink proved to me the extent of his dedication, ability, and artistry. The record we produced together is a true example of this quality,” says Dylan.
Single ‘Learn from the Dinosaur’ is a captivating summation of the record’s bittersweet pop balladry. Written on Pink’s old wonky Wurlitzer piano, the song is a satire of sorts, that explores how we might be following in the footsteps of dinosaurs: crawling towards our demise while taking our children along with us. Pink soldered a small synthesiser together for the song, which emits strange beeps and dreamy hums over verses on wealth, status and order. The accompanying video clip is a collage of AI-generated imagery - a comment on how we might be fuelling our own artistic extinction by relying on a nefarious machine for art.
Meanwhile, ‘Let It Out’ is indicative of the record’s brilliant blend of stark emotions and plush compositions. Recorded in a single day, the song is a slow-burning, melancholic groove about bottling up emotions, and the collateral damage that ensues. The song follows this logic, bursting midway into a flurry of synths, guitars and overlapping vocals. As Harvey says, “sometimes you just gotta let it all out.”
Elsewhere on ‘Tinnitus II’ Harvey charts the tricky terrain of being in love and maintaining relationships, while dealing with the despondency that comes with living with bipolar disorder. The song is dreamy but tinged with grief; full of twinkling pianos, swirling harmonies and propulsive bass. ‘How I Really Feel’ closes out the record, and it might be the album’s most astonishing moment.
Channelling the angelic arrangements of Pet Sounds, the song explores the desire to want someone to be right for you, but knowing inherently that the union is doomed. The album was recorded with Dylan in his home studio at the back of the house, a set of bongos next to the console, and Harvey in the front room singing and playing piano. They connected through a series of daisy-chained mic cables and headphone extenders, impressively all in one take.
“This track speaks to the lengths you go to in order to express how you really feel about something or someone,” says Harvey. “That glossy-eyed existence where you mistake lust for love, and dig a big old hole for yourself before you realise where you actually are.”