Kurt Harland

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Kurt Harland

Background information
Birth name Kurt Harland Larson
Also known as Kurt Valaquen, Kurt Larson
Born January 25, 1963 (1963-01-25) (age 45)
Origin Minneapolis, Minnesota
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, record producer, game soundtrack composer audio engineer
Associated acts Information Society

Kurt Harland is a singer, composer, and video game developer/audio engineer. He is best known as the lead singer of Information Society and composer of the soundtracks for the Legacy of Kain video game series.

Contents

[edit] Biography

He was born Kurt Harland Larson, on January 25, 1963) in Minnesota. Starting at the age of six, he took piano lessons, and by the end of high school, this had expanded into choral and theatrical singing and stage performing.

During college, he and a high school friend started a recording group they called Information Society, which would become a decades-long involvement with music, electronic audio, and recording/programming.

After living in New York, Vienna, and Minneapolis, Kurt moved to California, where he now resides in San Francisco with his wife and son.

[edit] Career

Kurt Harland Larson has twenty-five years of experience with electronic audio gear and recording, beginning in 1982.

[edit] Information Society

Formed in 1982, synthpop band Information Society achieved mainstream success for a while in the late eighties and early nineties. They are most widely known for their 1988 hit single "What's On Your Mind? (Pure Energy)".

In early concerts and albums, Harland was credited under the pseudonym "Kurt Valaquen." After the band had achieved mainstream success, he began using his own middle name as his professional last name.[1]

After Information Society broke up, Kurt kept the rights to the name of the band and released a solo album, Don't Be Afraid, in 1997.

A 2004 episode of VH1's Bands Reunited, caused a brief controversy when Kurt Harland refused to appear in an Information Society reunion performance, despite apparently accepting the invitation on-camera by signing a copy of their first album. In an account of the incident written by Harland and available on his website [2], Harland disputes VH1's depiction of the events and his portrayal on the show, claiming that the show was edited to make it look as if he had accepted the invitation and then backed out of it. [3]

In 2006, he turned the name back over to Paul Robb and James Cassidy, who reformed the band with a new singer. Harland cited family obligations and a demanding career in not returning full time; he has since been involved nonetheless, performing at a few concerts, and is featured as a vocalist on their most recent album Synthesizer.

[edit] Video games

After 16 years as a full-time recording artist, Kurt moved to San Francisco and began his career in video game audio engineering. Over the years he has been involved with eighteen different projects, notably six years with Crystal Dynamics and a stint at Electronic Arts. He is currently the audio director for Slipgate Ironworks, a San Francisco-based game development company founded by John Romero.[4]

Harland has worked on:

Four songs from Information Society's album Don't Be Afraid were also used in video games that had their soundtracks composed by Kurt Harland:

  • Early versions of "Closing in" and "On The Outside" had been used in the 3DO version of Ballz.
  • The instrumental track "Ozar Midrashim" would later be used as the intro theme of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
  • A slow instrumental mix of "Empty" also appeared in Soul Reaver.

[edit] Other works

In 1983, with bandmates, Kurt Harland directed the music video for "Fall In Line" by Information Society,[5] with a budget of exactly $0.00. In 1987, Harland directed the $10.00 music video for "And So It Goes" by Ex-Sample.[6]

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  • "Information Society." Bands Reunited. VH1. New York. 10 November 2004