Saint Harison earned his holy name performing for friends and musicians around his hometown. From the age of eight, the Southampton singer flaunted his warm, elegant vocals as they soared to the heavens, which rained back blessings on him in abundance. “I was the most confident,” Saint Harison tells Apple Music. “Even at that age, I was in my bedroom singing Mariah Carey songs. Then I started going to the jam sessions, which I loved, from around 14.” But the singer would then have to overcome a brief period where he nearly lost belief: As puberty hit, his boyish tones were impacted. “It was the worst time in my life because I couldn't sing anything that I'd grown up with,” he says. “I loved all the singers that could sing, sing and I couldn't sing like that anymore. So I started studying musical theater—aiming to play male roles [onstage] and do the low [register] stuff. I put all my time into it, and planned to attend a drama school afterwards, but it just wasn't my scene. I just love writing and making my own music too much to ever put it aside.” From his spectacular vocal range—now evolved and no less sublime—to his prescient, thoughtful songwriting, Harison’s debut EP embraces all that makes him special. Fused through his fluency in soul and R&B, these songs explore unrequited love (“TMF”), sinking situationships (“homies”), and the aching pains of self-reflection (“ego talkin’”). Read on for his track-by-track guide to debut EP lost a friend. “why didn’t you call???” “I wrote this track working over Zoom with [US singer-songwriter] Eric Leva and [US singer-songwriter and producer] Wrabel. I was saying how I felt about this person to Wrabel, like, ‘Does this sound stupid?’ Because it felt it was so dramatic at the time of writing. And then we kept the demo vocals on the track, because every time I'm so emotionally invested, it's quite likely that I'll get the best vocal take on the day. I can remember we were looking for a chorus for ages. And it's almost like sometimes when you try and force something, it's not meant to be there. So in the car, I just started doing these doo-doo-doos over where the chorus would be, just as this placeholder. I loved it, and so we kept it.” “homies” (feat. Tiana Major9) “This is the only song on the project I didn't write. I actually heard it first in January 2021, but I always knew it was going on here, it's such a beautiful song. It was written by [US songwriter] Blush [aka Bianca Atterberry]. There's something amazing about when you collaborate with people—and you get to see and hear how different writers word a situation. Then I wanted a feature somewhere on the project. I wanted it to be someone who was in the UK R&B scene. I just love Tiana, and I think she's such an amazing representation of what UK R&B is.” “TMF” “So, I was in LA, doing the writing thing, working with [US songwriter] MarcLo, [US songwriter] Marcus Semaj, and [US producer] Deputy. I explained my ideas for the song—‘At the end, I want the punchline to be: I give too many fucks’—and Deputy got to work on this beat right away. I referenced Jazmine Sullivan, too. I wanted this to be a real spicy R&B vibe—and he hit it just right on the beat with this bass.” “ego talkin’” “This is Deputy on production, and Boy Matthews [UK songwriter and vocalist Jay Norton], who I wrote it with. I cut this track in my room and was obviously going to rerecord it, in my mind. But my management team were like, ‘This is perfect.’ I was so self-conscious because it was on a standard, cheap mic. It was probably one of the first times working with Boy Matthews. I think a lot of times, in conflict, I say things and not think much about the consequences. I was really going through that stage of talking shit. A lot of it was just in the moment, not meant to harm. I was explaining this and Boy was like, ‘Yeah, it's just your ego that's talking.’ I was like, that's really cool. So I owned it and decided to use that.” “james (bleeding alone)” “This song was called ‘james’ to begin with, because it was never meant to be out. It’s the most for me song I’ve done. I was thinking a lot about the situation [of ‘lost a friend’] that my friend was going through, and I always wanted to be an artist that was very true. I’ve always said that I wanted to be the artist I needed growing up. The main reason I wrote this song is because he felt like people didn't care enough, and I think that's a relatable feeling to so many. When you are going through stuff with mental health, I think it's so easy to fall into this hole like, ‘God, no one cares. I have nobody.’ So this is to say: ‘Regardless of everything, I am still your friend and I do care.’ Then I sent them the song because that's what it was for. It was a letter to articulate instead of just words.” “lost a friend” “This song is about slowly losing a person, and I knew it was going to happen. The next track reflects this also: It wasn't about the relationship or the label anymore. I was more aware that I was losing a friend, and I don't let many people in. I have people I know and enjoy spending time with, but those that I truly open up to, it's quite a small circle.” “more weed, less friends” “I had this title for ages. It was probably a lockdown title. I think lockdown mentally put a lot of us in a place where we were contemplating a lot of things in our lives, and that’s where this song stemmed from. Even then, I knew it was going to be one that I wrote by myself, because I knew what it sounded like in my head. This song also has my favorite line of the project: ‘I don't drink at parties. I just pretend.’”