Harmless Examines Heartbreak and Dating Through Lens of Bygone Era with “Linda” (premiere)

Nacho Cano performs under the moniker Harmless (and formerly as Twin Cabins), a name that belies not only some of the truths expressed in the songwriter’s music but also the pain which he’s gone through in recent times. (More on that in a moment.)

The video for “Linda”, culled from Harmless‘ upcoming EP, expresses some of the amusement Cano found in considering dating profiles and hotlines from the 1980s. “It made me comfortable to be wearing costumes and playing different characters since I am still getting used to myself these days,” he offers. The truth is, the video, and really any activity almost didn’t come to pass.

“Not too long ago, I was the victim of a drunk driving collision,” Cano reveals. “The other driver was going 50 miles per hour or so when he T-boned me while I was riding my bike to work. Over the past few months I’ve done everything I can to regain full use of my legs and face. I’ve had to work on momentum. Fortunately everything is going well: I’m walking, talking and producing new work. But now the songs I’m writing are coming from a different time and space in my life. My perspective,” he adds, “has shifted.”

Cano says that around the time of his accident he’d undergone what the thought was the most pain he’d ever been in. The end of a long-term relationship became the basis of an EP he’d finished at the time. “Trust me,” he says, “after what I’ve been through, worse things can happen than having your heart broken.”

The EP which arrives on October 26, Cano offers, “encompasses how alone I felt romantically and culturally at the time. Not having a girlfriend made me realize how cold the United States can be. Americans communicate interpersonal and intimate comfort differently than in Mexican culture. This music is representative of that realization.”