'99 is the second single taken from Harper Simon's new album Division Street, produced by Tom Rothrock 

Harper Simon on ‘99 “Sometimes you look back at a moment, an encounter, a relationship. What were you ready for? Did you know what you had? Did you know yourself? Was it the right person at the wrong moment? What can you do about it now? Should you even try? People get pulled in different directions. Life can pull people apart in an instant. Sometimes there's a moment when things can go a couple of different ways. Did you recognize that moment for what it was? Do you see it now all too clearly?”

Division Street is a departure for Simon: it features a sound that’s much more driven by electric guitars than his alt country-flavoured debut. “The mission was to make the kind of Rock ‘n’ Roll record I would want to listen to myself,” he says. “Which sounds simple but is, in fact, incredibly difficult.”

Simon co-produced Division Street with Tom Rothrock, who produced three albums for Elliott Smith (Either/Or, XO and Figure 8) and Beck’s first album Mellow Gold, among others. As the team worked, the album’s sound grew rougher around the edges. “I felt challenged and inspired by the idea of making a modern psychedelic folk-rock album, a Tom Rothrock production like XO, but then the Velvet Underground and the Stones kept entering in,” says Simon. “Elliott Smith was very influenced by the Beatles but my guitar playing is more influenced by Keith Richards. And I kept wanting to emphasize more lo-fi elements.”

Division Street was recorded with a small coterie of guest musicians—including Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello’s Attractions on drums, Nikolai Fraiture from the Strokes on bass, vocals by Inara George, Feist’s musical director Brian LeBarton playing synths, as well as Nate Walcott from Bright Eyes and Wilco’s Mikael Jorgensen. “I’m very lucky,” says Simon. “Everybody that we asked to come and guest on the record showed up.”