Devlin And The Harm To Release Debut Album Out May 22

Devlin And The Harm - Indie Rock — Photo by Natali Hopkins

On May 22, Devlin and the Harm will release their self-titled debut album (pre-order). Today the band shares the album’s lead single “No Havana,” a driving, reflective track written while Devlin McCluskey helped care for his ailing father, set against the backdrop of mounting political anxiety in the U.S. The song and music video, debuted today at Magnet Magazine, and is available now on all streaming platforms for playlist consideration.

On the song Devlin And The Harm reflects:

“I think a lot of the songs I write try to make sense of larger cultural shifts and tragedies through the personal struggles that will define those times for me. I often feel cynical and I’m trying to find in-roads to empathy and hope. I believe people can change, I know I’ve changed, and I love songs dealing with that journey, ideally in an abstract way that grooves.

With ‘No Havana,’ I watched my Dad’s health deteriorating as it became clear the political tides were rolling back to the 1950s. He lived through the Battle of Britain, spent years in Spain & France, immigrated to the US and became a union organizer. But it felt like in his last days, he had to watch the world rejecting the progress he’d been working towards throughout his life.

He’d traveled the world and we often talked about going to Cuba, but as a resident alien with kidney failure he was fearful of repercussions.

I was back home in Illinois taking him to dialysis, watching the 2024 election shift, feeling like there was no stopping the horror around the corner and no stopping time. What do you do when the revolution or the miracle doesn’t come?

My dad passed away a month after we recorded ‘No Havana.’ And now the horror is here on a personal and societal level, but you still need to find a way to get through. And one of the only things that makes me feel good is hearing my dad’s voice in my head all day.”

“We lived a lifetime making this record,” says Devlin And The Harm. During the sessions, drummer Michael Nussbaum survived a near-fatal paragliding accident, and McCluskey’s father fell gravely ill and later passed away. The album stretched over three difficult years, marked by personal loss, recovery, and major life changes.

Finding meaning in personal and cultural upheaval has always shaped Devlin And The Harm’s work. His previous band, The Dead Ships, became one of the most electrifying acts to emerge from the Los Angeles garage rock scene, earning praise from LA Weekly and NPR for their emotionally charged, anthemic sound.

Now Devlin And The Harm returns with Devlin and The Harm, a new project created with drummer Michael Nussbaum, a cast of longtime collaborators, and Grammy-nominated producer Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party, At the Drive-In). Their self-titled debut album blends raw rock energy with orchestral arrangements, drawing from 70s rock, soul, baroque pop, and dark Americana while exploring sobriety, love, grief, and the feeling of living through a fractured America. Across the album, vintage influences like Fred Neil, Karen Dalton, and Scott Walker meet the modern spirit of Kevin Morby, Father John Misty, Michael Kiwanuka, and Damian Jurado.

“Some of the worst moments of our lives happened while making this record,” McCluskey says. “But I also fell in love, got engaged, and started over. When things feel this bleak, making songs is how I try to be a become a better person.”