One of the most visionary artists in soul music today, Curtis Harding is proof of the strange magic that happens when musical prowess meets unbridled imagination. In the making of his fourth full-length, the Atlanta-based singer/songwriter dreamed up a batch of songs exploring the longing and unease of being far from home—a true-to-life reflection he soon expanded into an elaborate concept album about a pilot lost in space. The latest addition to an acclaimed catalog including his 2017 breakthrough Face Your Fear (co-produced by Danger Mouse), Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt merges the lavish scope of a space opera with the pure feeling of classic soul—ultimately bringing an even greater potency to his wildly eclectic sound.
Self-produced at Electric Deluxe Recorders (an Austin studio owned by Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas), Departures & Arrivals serves as the follow-up to If Words Were Flowers—a 2021 release hailed by the likes of UPROXX, who praised Harding for “making some of the best modern soul music out right now.” For Harding, the decision to handle production on his own stemmed from a deep desire to pursue his creative ideals without compromise or restraint. “I produced my first album so this felt like a return, although this time I was more confident and capable of sonically going where I wanted to go,” says Harding. “I really love the process of building worlds in the studio, doing what I want in the moment and experimenting with new sounds instead of doing the same thing over and over.” Mostly recorded live with a full band, Departures & Arrivals encompasses everything from moody space-funk to lush baroque-pop to otherworldly psych-rock—all while endlessly spotlighting Harding’s rich and captivating vocals and incandescent guitar work.
In a testament to the dazzling fluidity of his artistry, Harding arrived at the album’s premise by resolutely following his creative intuition. “Because I’m away from home so much of the time, a lot of these songs came from feeling adrift and wanting to get back to the ones I love,” he says. “I started envisioning this character who takes a journey and gets lost in space, then ends up traveling through different galaxies and dimensions as he’s trying to find his way back home.” Naming Ridley Scott among his favorite sci-fi auteurs, Harding notes that the extravagant world-building of Departures & Arrivals inspired many of his production choices, including the abundance of symphonic string arrangements supplied by Steve Hackman (a composer who’s worked with such diverse artists as Doja Cat and Andrew Bird). “I’ve always used strings on my records but never to this extent, and everything Steve created just took me to another place,” he points out.
Despite the astral setting of its storytelling, Departures & Arrivals remains firmly grounded in emotional realism thanks to the depth and honesty of Harding’s songwriting. To that end, a gorgeously joyful track called “True Love Can’t Be Blind” speaks to a love that endures across a great distance, telegraphing a euphoric infatuation in its radiant piano riffs and rapturous harmonies. One of the album’s most exhilarating moments, “Time” unfolds in smoldering horns and galvanizing call-and-response vocals as Harding offers reassurance to anyone losing faith. “When you feel alone it can be hard to see any hope, so I wanted to write an uplifting song about searching for the positive,” he says. “It might take some time, but if you keep pushing and put your best foot forward, you’ll get there.” And on “The Power,” Departures & Arrivals presents a timely disco anthem lit up in lustrous grooves and feverish strings. “In the context of the record, that song could be about trying to find the power that will bring me back home,” says Harding. “But it also plays into what’s happening politically right now, where the people in power keep taking from us without giving anything in return. I wrote that song to give people some kind of release and remind them that no matter what’s going on in the world you still need to live life and have fun doing it.”
With its tracklist ranging from the ornate romanticism of the album-opening “There She Goes” to the surreal grandeur of “Hard As Stone,” Departures & Arrivals marks the most complete manifestation yet of Harding’s expansive musicality. Born in Michigan but raised in Atlanta from age 14, he got his start singing and playing drums in church with his mother, a gospel singer who introduced him to seminal gospel acts like The Mighty Clouds of Joy. With his musical upbringing also including the Stax and Motown records his dad played at home, the ’90s hip-hop beloved by his sister, and the classic alt-rock favored by his friends, Harding started rapping at age nine and later moved on to writing songs after teaching himself to play guitar. In his early 20s, he began working in promotion for LaFace Records (an Atlanta-based label once home to legendary acts like OutKast) and quickly progressed to singing backup for CeeLo Green. After launching his own music career, he made his debut with 2014’s Soul Power and then delivered Face Your Fear—a genre-bending powerhouse that landed on NPR’s list of the year’s best R&B albums and soon found Harding touring with Jack White and taking the stage at major festivals like Lollapalooza.
Closing out on the reverb-drenched reverie of “Running Outta Space,” Departures & Arrivals ushers in a bold new era for Harding while staying true to the profound sense of purpose that’s always fueled his songwriting. “Sometimes when you’re feeling lost, hearing from someone else who’s felt the same way can let you know you’re not alone—that’s really the whole sentiment of the album,” says Harding. “I hope these songs help people to recognize that feeling lost is all part of the journey, and that the journey is what’s most important anyway. And once you realize that, you’re on the right path. You’re already on your way home.”
