MONMOUTH – Fans of the British singer-songwriter Harry Styles are speculating he recorded part of his newest album in Maine, just miles away from Augusta.
“Harry’s House” came out last Friday and in an NPR interview, the reporter asked Styles about recording “all over the world – LA, Tokyo, Maine and London.”
The pop superstar is the United Kingdom’s richest musician younger than 30, and a single off “Harry’s House” is No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 as of Thursday.
After the album credits were published online, a person with the username “Pharbonboard” posted a nine-second video on TikTok — a popular video sharing application — that suggested he might have recorded in Monmouth, a rural Kennebec County town of about 4,000 people. The video has amassed over 75,000 views.
Pharbonboard, who goes by the name of Caro, Googled the studios listed in the credits “after hearing the NPR interview that part of the album was recorded in Maine.”
The Google results for one of the recording locations, “Highmoor Farm,” included the website for the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm in Monmouth, which is an apple, small fruit and vegetable research farm for the university.
The other studios listed in the album credits are in Tokyo, Los Angeles and London, the other places mentioned in the NPR interview. Four of the 13 tracks on “Harry’s House” mention being recorded at Highmoor Farm: “Grapejuice,” “As It Was,” “Cinema” and “Love of My Life.”
NPR did not respond by press time to clarify how it confirmed Maine was one of Styles’ recording destinations.
Tori Lee Jackson, an agriculture professor at the Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm, insists Styles did not visit the farm, but was amused by the speculation and said she “wishes” the farm had a “secret recording studio.”
Jackson is a musician herself and has a recording studio in Wayne, down the road from Monmouth, but said Styles “has not come knocking.” No one else has reached out to her regarding the connection to Styles, she added.
“Having worked there in various capacities since the mid-90s and even living there in grad school, I’m fairly confident there is no hidden studio,” she said.
The inquiry stumped at least one well-connected member of the music industry in Maine.
Further south, Portland is home to Gateway Mastering Studios, the mixing studio of 12-time Grammy award-winner Bob Ludwig, who has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Elton John and other high-profile musicians.
Bob Jackson, Ludwig’s co-worker and engineer at the studio, joked it would have been “impossible” for Styles to record there because the Portland studio handles post-production as opposed to recording. Additionally, he said with COVID-19, they haven’t had the chance to have many people in the studio.
Jackson said he was not familiar with any recording studios in Maine that worked with Styles.
There is at least one confirmed Maine connection to the album, though. Singer-songwriter Amy Allen, who grew up in Windham and South Portland, co-wrote the song “Matilda” with Styles and two others. Allen did not respond when reached out to on social media.
The record label Styles works with, Columbia Records, and several producers and mixers on the album also did not respond to requests to comment.
And, to squash the fun, there is a Highmoor Farm in England, where Styles is from.
Perhaps we’ll just have to ask Styles himself.
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