"I'm fucked / What do I have to do to get unstuck? / When will I feel I've done enough? / I'm aware you don't care / So cut me loose..."
The endearing sleepy lo-fi pop / slow punk pull of "future music" by Harmless, the project of Los Angeles-based, Mexico-born artist Nacho Cano, And from his sophomore studio album "By Them, By You, By Me" dropping on October 17, 2025, easily embraces you totally, charming you and worming it's way into your ears and down to your heart. Somehow I thought of the opposing sounds of Pixies, Weezer, The Cure all at once, with all those iconic artists being at their most vulnerable. The easy drum beat and the fixating chord progs and rolling bass line feels like a distillation of 80's indie rock, post punk and the hazy dazy feeling coupled with Cano's compelling vocal countenance and melancholy, self deprecating poetry against Joey Santiago-esque guitar lines is potently charming and cool.
"I'm fucked
What do I have to do to get unstuck?When will I feel I've done enough?
I'm aware you don't care
So cut me loose
I'm scared
I thought I was gonna be prepared
I thought you would always be right there
I'm aware you don't care
I'm born to lose
What can I do?
Ooh.."
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
["Dreamy indie rock artist Harmless announces his sophomore studio album, By Them, By You, By Me, will be released on October 17, 2025. The record finds Los Angeles-based, Mexico-born artist Nacho Cano ruminating on the intersection between creativity and careerism—the inexorable struggle that myriad artists face while uncovering their true selves within their work—and sees Cano emerge reborn with a new sense of purpose and sonic vitality. The resulting album, in Cano’s words, is “a record about rejection. It’s a breakup album, but about breaking up with your job. There’s this idea that labor is what validates you. My dream came true—so why am I not happy? Those are feelings that are very complementary to heartbreak. So I wanted to write about my passion and falling out with it.”
A largely self-produced affair, By Them By You By Me was assembled to completion in Mexico City alongside studio wizards Santiago Mijares (Leon Bridges, Sam Evian), Patricio Mijares (Panda Bear, Sam Evian) and Francisco Sánchez de la Vega (Hawaiian Gremlins, O Tortuga), accompanying him: “I gave myself and friends 10 days to do it, and at the end we were like, ‘Alright, I think this is it!”]
A largely self-produced affair, By Them By You By Me was assembled to completion in Mexico City alongside studio wizards Santiago Mijares (Leon Bridges, Sam Evian), Patricio Mijares (Panda Bear, Sam Evian) and Francisco Sánchez de la Vega (Hawaiian Gremlins, O Tortuga), accompanying him: “I gave myself and friends 10 days to do it, and at the end we were like, ‘Alright, I think this is it!”]
I so look forward to the entire album. I truly do.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/yosoyharmless/
https://www.facebook.com/yosoyharmless
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/yosoyharmless/
https://www.facebook.com/yosoyharmless
https://twincabins.bandcamp.com/
Nacho Cano was born in Mexico City, and now resides in Los Angeles. The songwriter/producer has released musical projects under the name Twin Cabins, Canito and, currently, Harmless. Immigrating to San Diego at ten years old, Cano used hip hop to expand the English he was learning to speak.
Dreamy indie rock artist Harmless announces his sophomore studio album, By Them, By You, By Me, will be released on October 17, 2025. The record finds Los Angeles-based, Mexico-born artist Nacho Cano ruminating on the intersection between creativity and careerism—the inexorable struggle that myriad artists face while uncovering their true selves within their work—and sees Cano emerge reborn with a new sense of purpose and sonic vitality. The resulting album, in Cano’s words, is “a record about rejection. It’s a breakup album, but about breaking up with your job. There’s this idea that labor is what validates you. My dream came true—so why am I not happy? Those are feelings that are very complementary to heartbreak. So I wanted to write about my passion and falling out with it.”
A largely self-produced affair, By Them By You By Me was assembled to completion in Mexico City alongside studio wizards Santiago Mijares (Leon Bridges, Sam Evian), Patricio Mijares (Panda Bear, Sam Evian) and Francisco Sánchez de la Vega (Hawaiian Gremlins, O Tortuga), accompanying him: “I gave myself and friends 10 days to do it, and at the end we were like, ‘Alright, I think this is it!”
He shared the first single, “future music,” a fuzzy, bedroom pop track named after a record store in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood. Cano adds, “I was in the middle of wrapping up the record when this song came to me. I felt that I was stuck because I felt I had no more upward mobility. The eternal growth train had stopped, and so did everything else. At that point, I emotionally felt like the song’s opener. Fucked. Desperate to get unstuck. Flogging myself even though I am creatively in a very fortunate position. I’d express these feelings to my loved ones to an extent that was unreasonable - I wanted to be cut loose. I also felt like a contradiction. I wanted things to get better. Asking what I could do? Why would you keep me around, if I keep letting you down? The answer lies in the love I feel. As much as it pains me, I love doing this.”
Cano explains the video as “the literal interpretation of what happens if you keep chasing the carrot." The video also introduces Harmless as a dejected “salary man,” tying thematically into the narrative behind the track. To film it, he flew to Mexico City to work with award-winning director Alejandra Villalba García, who wrote the screenplay along with Francisco Sánchez de la Vega, with whom he worked on the record. A full list of production credits can be found on YouTube.
Harmless, lo-fi pop, slow punk, post punk, indie rock, shoegaze, sophomore album "By Them, By You, By Me", project of Nacho Cano, Los Angeles based, Mexico born, melancholy pop, slowcore, dreamy, escapist, confessional songs,
Nacho Cano was born in Mexico City, and now resides in Los Angeles. The songwriter/producer has released musical projects under the name Twin Cabins, Canito and, currently, Harmless. Immigrating to San Diego at ten years old, Cano used hip hop to expand the English he was learning to speak.
Dreamy indie rock artist Harmless announces his sophomore studio album, By Them, By You, By Me, will be released on October 17, 2025. The record finds Los Angeles-based, Mexico-born artist Nacho Cano ruminating on the intersection between creativity and careerism—the inexorable struggle that myriad artists face while uncovering their true selves within their work—and sees Cano emerge reborn with a new sense of purpose and sonic vitality. The resulting album, in Cano’s words, is “a record about rejection. It’s a breakup album, but about breaking up with your job. There’s this idea that labor is what validates you. My dream came true—so why am I not happy? Those are feelings that are very complementary to heartbreak. So I wanted to write about my passion and falling out with it.”
A largely self-produced affair, By Them By You By Me was assembled to completion in Mexico City alongside studio wizards Santiago Mijares (Leon Bridges, Sam Evian), Patricio Mijares (Panda Bear, Sam Evian) and Francisco Sánchez de la Vega (Hawaiian Gremlins, O Tortuga), accompanying him: “I gave myself and friends 10 days to do it, and at the end we were like, ‘Alright, I think this is it!”
He shared the first single, “future music,” a fuzzy, bedroom pop track named after a record store in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood. Cano adds, “I was in the middle of wrapping up the record when this song came to me. I felt that I was stuck because I felt I had no more upward mobility. The eternal growth train had stopped, and so did everything else. At that point, I emotionally felt like the song’s opener. Fucked. Desperate to get unstuck. Flogging myself even though I am creatively in a very fortunate position. I’d express these feelings to my loved ones to an extent that was unreasonable - I wanted to be cut loose. I also felt like a contradiction. I wanted things to get better. Asking what I could do? Why would you keep me around, if I keep letting you down? The answer lies in the love I feel. As much as it pains me, I love doing this.”
Cano explains the video as “the literal interpretation of what happens if you keep chasing the carrot." The video also introduces Harmless as a dejected “salary man,” tying thematically into the narrative behind the track. To film it, he flew to Mexico City to work with award-winning director Alejandra Villalba García, who wrote the screenplay along with Francisco Sánchez de la Vega, with whom he worked on the record. A full list of production credits can be found on YouTube.
Harmless, lo-fi pop, slow punk, post punk, indie rock, shoegaze, sophomore album "By Them, By You, By Me", project of Nacho Cano, Los Angeles based, Mexico born, melancholy pop, slowcore, dreamy, escapist, confessional songs,
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