Timing is a necessary but uncontrollable tool for an artist. With Neil Young providing a sequel of sorts to Harvest, the projection of his work of the time, the genre popularities and the cultural movements of the era lend themselves to Harvest Moon. It is not to do with the nightfall on the album or the sway of Young in one direction or another but, as we have seen through the return of bands many are nostalgic for in recent years, a recapturing of purported “simpler” times is longed for. There is little simplicity to this Young album, a solid cut of work from an intricate musician who falls into the pool of longing for the past. But he comes out the other end with a roaring, essential piece of work which rivals his heyday.
But what is a heyday if time is not wielded by the artist? Young makes the most of his studio work at every turn, it is not from lack of trying but luck of the times that Harvest Moon headed back into an explorative, culturally prolific time. Mellow pangs of opener Unknown Legend feel for the shadow left by a lover left behind. Broad strokes are narrowed by Young here with his wistful and often perfect, sobering writing. Sometimes you just get a feeling for an experience which is elevated above what comes before it, something to overtake the memories of the month. Is it recency bias? Is it profound work? For Young and Harvest Moon it is likely both, but the gorgeous harmonica additions and the subtle instrumental strokes found throughout this album are a marvellous experience.
Where the title track has taken TikTok by storm, or at least the interior design posts which flood this particular homepage, Harvest Moon has not lost its charm. The promise of a full moon and the rising occasion is a warm, gentle experience. It remains an essential album to ring in autumn with. Those scurrying creatures on War of Man are a grasp at the cold, holding it firm and accepting the turn of the season. Broader clangs of country can be heard on One of These Days but ultimately the selling point and crux of the album is Young. His voice, a cool and breezy vocal which has not waned over the decades of his work, remains a formidable inclusion which continues its collaboration with the Stray Gators. Their additions here are as strong as Harvest, and the continuation feels not at all necessary, but a welcome reflection on Young’s fourth album.
Harvest Moon is nothing but tremendous. A desire to return to a crossroads point in his career and to make a choice, instead of continuing, not knowing where to go. Young presents himself with conviction and envy for his past self, but an acceptance which leads to some of his touching, poetic best. Such a Woman depends on the looser momentum, the almost silent approach taken with a piano and harmonica pairing while the joys heard earlier in the album contain an almost seasonal affair. Banjo-laden bits like Old King may sound light and frivolous but hold an emotional certainty expected of a reflective-like Young, taking potshots at his former self for being so indecisive. It makes Harvest Moon a bold follow-up, better than the work it leaps from.
