Harry Kappen Shares The Longing Between Heart and Head

Inside the Longing With Harry Kappen

I’ve always had a soft spot for songs that sound like internal conversations. I’m talking about those quiet hours when your thoughts start pacing the room. And The Longing by Harry Kappen fits right there, somewhere between reason and clear emotion. The man has a knack for turning contradictions into sound. His guitar feels like a weapon — firing arguments, echoing pleas, and finally laying down in peace.

Harry recently traded the grey skies of the Netherlands for the buzz of Mexico City. But I can hear that his music still carries that northern European introspection. The Longing is the opening track and fourth single from his album FOUR, and it feels like the diary entry you don’t want anyone to read. You realise we’re all in that same fight — the heart pulling wild, the head holding cold. You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?

The Anatomy of a Battle

The song grows from calm reflection into full-bodied rock, and I mean it breathes. One minute you’re floating on airy chords, the next you’re dropped into a lyrical guitar solo that bends time for a few seconds. You bet I rewound that part a couple of times — just to feel the sting. You’ll probably do the same, and I get that.

Harry Kappen‘s voice moves between restraint and surrender — exactly where that inner conflict lives. He writes: “Sometimes my brain is on fire / Practicalities, analyses, rationality / Hear my voice of desire / Only my heart can tell where I should be.” I don’t know you, but this feels like someone’s Tuesday evening after too much thinking. The acknowledgment that control and chaos are two sides of the same coin.

The arrangement says exactly that. Acoustic and electric guitars keep circling each other with that almost mechanical tension – release – and then back again. The vocal harmonies overlap, almost arguing and agreeing at once, while the orchestration carries that karma-like fragrance. It’s time working things out, as he sings — before we evanesce.

The Man Behind The Longing

Looks like Harry Kappen has lived a few lives in one. Multi-instrumentalist, composer, music therapist, and — if you ask me — philosopher with a Fender. He’s the kind of magician who channels what you already feel. You hear traces of Lennon and McCartney’s lyric scent, the electric tension of Bowie, and the open nerve of Alanis Morissette, all stitched together with his own fingerprint.

He’s said that his heart usually wins, “but never without listening to my head”. And that’s exactly how The Longing feels like. This is a song written in that inner space where emotion and reason turn into something beautiful.

Don’t think for a second this was an easy one to write. I had to keep my eyes closed a little longer than usual and deal with some of my own monsters too. But it was worth it — trust me.

The Longing by Harry Kappen – Play. Feel. Done.

If you’ve ever found yourself torn between the life you plan and the one that keeps calling — play it twice. It won’t solve the conflict, but it might make it sound like music for a while. And no, it’s not advice — I don’t like to give advice. It’s just a trace the track left behind, I’m still figuring it out myself.

The Longing by Harry Kappen is available now on all major platforms. Spin it on Spotify, and find out more about Harry Kappen on his Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok — or wherever you end up drifting online.