Raised in Michigan – his father, a mechanic, and his mother, a gospel singer – Harding spent large parts of his youth supporting his mother as she toured the gospel circuit. The music of Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples permeated his childhood. He found himself collaborating with Cee Lo Green in the early 2000s and singing back-up for the likes of Outkast and Lauryn Hill before pursuing solo ventures.

Performing at Electric Brixton as part of his UK tour, Harding’s set surveyed his first two albums (2014’s Soul Power and 2017’s Face Your Fear) and his shimmering latest release If Words Were Flowers (2022). His repertoire is steeped in the influence of southern soul, but coloured with psychedelic, symphonic, and garage rock textures too, with no shortage of catchy hooks (see: ‘Heaven’s on the Other Side‘).

Though Harding’s set may have lacked some of its studio lushness in the absence of dedicated backing singers, it was nonetheless packed with thrilling energy and musicianship. His muscular vocals – capable of rich, full-bodied lows and clean falsettos – sat above a busy soundscape of glorious live horns and fuzzy guitar. Working the stage with a nonchalant ease, Harding broke out into episodes of tambourine-shaking abandon as he seized upon the energy of his band and the audience. From the soaring, gospel-tinged thrust of ‘I Won’t Let You Down‘, the restraint and finesse of ‘With You‘, and the explosive psych-soul of ‘Wednesday Morning Atonement‘, Harding had his audience rapt.

Photography credit: Matt Correia