In the four years since Harry Styles released his most recent album Harry’s House, he’s embarked on a globe-spanning tour, shot movies and won Grammys, and spent a lot of time enjoying la dolce vita in Italy. There he’s been spotted strolling down the black cobblestones of Rome, or popping up at the Vatican to see the new pope (he wandered over to the commotion after getting a haircut, how very Roman Holiday of him).
In an interview to promote the first single from March’s Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, Styles explained that his fourth album was inspired in part by his determination to get out of those liminal spaces – airport lounges, hotel rooms – that by then must have seemed grimly familiar. “Aperture” certainly captures the mood of a new adventure. Produced with longtime collaborator Kid Harpoon, it simmers with a barely contained curiosity, like your first step in a strange city, hearing snatches of conversation in a language you don’t understand, or the moment you walk through the doors of a club full of strangers. Styles has clearly been following his own advice: there’s romance, here, and dancing too.
