Released May 23rd, Harvey Jay Dodgson’s new EP, The Mind’s Eye, takes you on a short but powerful journey. With just four songs, it covers heartbreak, frustration, rebellion, and hope.
The EP opens with the brand new track ’Love Hurts’ that doesn’t gently lead you in. It grabs you by the heart and pulls you straight into the storm. The lyrics feel like pages torn from a diary- private thoughts screamed out loud. They speak of falling too fast, trusting too much, and loving someone who didn’t love you the same way back. And yet, you don’t want to stop loving them. Because love, even when it hurts, still feels better than nothing at all.
There’s a wildness in the song – it’s in the way the guitars clash and the drums race. It’s the sound of someone trying to make sense of everything they feel, and failing, but screaming anyway. And maybe that’s what heartbreak is: not understanding, but feeling everything at once.
In ’Embers’, Harvey opens up about what it feels like to chase your dreams when the dream starts feeling further away. He sings with raw honesty about the pain of working hard, putting everything on the line, and still not feeling seen. But through all the frustration and exhaustion, there’s still love. Love for music, love for the dream, and love for the people he’s singing to.
The line “I just spent all of my money and hard work slaving away to make a brand new record, you won’t even pre-save” is both funny and heartbreaking. It shows just how real this struggle is. But the energy of the music keeps pushing forward – strong guitars, pulsing drums, and emotion you can feel in your bones. ‘Embers’ is for anyone who’s ever thought about giving up but didn’t.
Next in the queue is ‘Kids on the Firing Line’. This song feels like a punch to the chest – in the best way. ‘Kids on the Firing Line’ is loud, urgent, and bold. It’s about the danger that young people face in today’s online world – social media pressure, hate, fake perfection, and real harm. Harvey asks the question we’re all thinking: Who put the kids here? Who’s responsible?
The lyrics don’t hold back. Lines like “shoot them full of racial hatred, feed them to the perverts and their friends” are harsh, but that’s the point. It’s supposed to shock you. It’s a protest song. But it’s not just about shouting – there’s hope in it too. The chorus says, “Let’s break the mould, redirect the mind of a broken soul,” and that makes it feel like a call to action. To change things. To do better. The music drives the message forward, with a strong beat and echoing chants that stay in your head long after the song ends. This one isn’t just a track – it’s a warning, a message, and a movement.
The final song, ’Freedom’, takes a quieter path. It feels like a deep breath after the chaos. Soft, dreamy, and a little sad, it’s about carrying pain with you but still keeping moving. Even when you feel lost or broken, there’s something – a voice, a memory, a feeling – that keeps calling you forward. The repeating line “left, right, freedom” sounds like footsteps, like Harvey is walking through it all, slowly but surely. There’s a softness to this song that makes it feel like a hug. Not everything is fixed, not everything is okay, but there’s still hope. And sometimes, that’s enough.
The Mind’s Eye doesn’t ask for your attention – it grabs it. It speaks the words you didn’t know you needed to hear and echoes the feelings you thought were only yours. But what truly sets this EP apart is Harvey Jay Dodgson’s ability to tell a story. Each track unfolds like a chapter – not just in sound, but in spirit. He doesn’t just sing; he lets you see the world through his eyes, feel it in your chest, and carry it with you after the final note.
He takes deeply personal experiences – heartbreak, burnout, anger, and resilience – and turns them into something universal. He paints pictures with his lyrics, builds tension with his arrangements, and releases emotion like it’s something sacred. His storytelling is messy and real and human, and that’s what makes it powerful.
In just four songs, Harvey Jay Dodgson manages to be loud, vulnerable, painfully human – and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
Written by: Aleksandra Trusczyńska
Edited by: Marieke Weeda
