The Harvey Girls – I’ve Been Watching A Lot Of Horror Movies Lately Album Review

Vee Hua 華婷婷2 min readJuly 24, 2010Add comment

The first two tracks off The Harvey Girls’ new album, I’ve Been Watching A Lot Of Horror Movies Lately, exemplify what the band does best. A horde of subtle manipulations, unusual samples, and simplistic looped guitar lines greet the listener as the folksy vocals of Hiram Lucke drone on like mantras. The husband-wife duo know how to take successful baseline ideas — like ridiculously ingraining acoustic guitar concepts or fax-like synths — and base entire songs around them, using ever-so-slight production embellishments to keep the listener’s ears occupied.

 


Listen to “Smile Like Gwynplaine” – DOWNLOAD MP3

The entirety of the album follows suit with that fundamental approach, despite covering vastly different stylistic bases throughout. Hints of new wave, post-punk, folk rock, ambient, and straightforward indie rock all take turns receiving The Harvey Girls treatment. Their insistence on focusing on singular good ideas and their lack of stylistic rigidity makes their eccentric creations feel humble. Nonetheless, I’ve Been Watching A Lot Of Horror Movies Lately does feel a bit fragmented at times due to its lack of stylistic focus, but it is very obvious from the opening track and album single, “The Body Without Any Eyes”, that they embrace — and succeed in creating — peculiarly catchy tunes.

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Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and artist who splits their time between Oaxaca, Mexico, and Seattle, Washington. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Editor-in-Chief of International Examiner, and an Environmental Justice reporter at South Seattle Emerald. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Their latest short film, Reckless Spirits (2022), is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy; the feature film version is slated for production in 2026. In 2025, they premiere their documentary short film, Hunt's Trading Post, set just outside of the Navajo and Ute Nations.

In 2017, Vee released the narrative short film, Searching Skies — which touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States — and co-organized The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!. They have a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota and are pursuing a certificate in Incidencias en Problemas Socioambientales at the Universidad del Medio Ambiente in Mexico.

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