Few local musicians have built a trajectory that is as careening and disorientating as James Harrison’s. For the better part of the last decade, Harrison has been active in Melbourne’s musical circles, but after releasing a string of singles, EPs and albums under his fairly straightforward moniker J M S Harrison, he shifted course in 2019 to veer into darker terrain, embracing a new identity as Fleeting Persuasion. On Forever Caught, his debut full-length under the new pseudonym, he crafted a collection of sprawling alternative-rock that was decidedly murkier than his solo work, and in true fashion, his latest single ‘Eternal’ seems to continue this habit of throwing fans off the scent.

Still heavily indebted to gothic post-punk and ethereal shoegaze, ‘Eternal’ finds Harrison toying with programmed beats and synthesisers for the first time since... well, we don't really know. Once again working with frequent collaborator Josh Whitehead, the track seems to follow on the full-band dynamics of his last album, but instead trades out a live rhythm section for a pulsating drum machine groove while a tangle of otherworldly synths worm around the ebbing guitars and Harrison’s coarse vocals. It’s a compelling atmosphere that somehow exists within two seemingly opposing sonic spaces - with its sleek electronic touches blended against his usual shadowy guitar interplay and looming melodies, ‘Eternal’ manages to sit in a blurry space between melancholic and poignantly uplifting. It makes sense that Harrison describes ‘Eternal’ as “dark, moody and dancey”; in fact, ‘Eternal’ sounds like it might go down just as well on a gloomy dance-floor as it would on your headphones while the lights are out (you could light a candle though).

Explaining how his latest endeavour came to fruition from within lockdown, Harrison explains, “knowing what the beat will be is such a crucial thing for me early in writing phase, so using a dodgy recording app I started playing around with beats and keys for around a dozen new songs. I rang Josh at Crosstown Studios and he said I was crazy for starting a new project, but he also said he had some experience in synths and beats so together we decided to work on one song at a time; I chose to work on this song, 'Eternal'. We built the song in stages together as a collaboration, referencing bands like The Midnight and Chromatics along the way." We’re still not exactly sure whether this track is to be a standalone experiment or the first of many, but it definitely points towards interesting things to come from this enigmatic songwriter who refuses to sit still.