Her Modern Orchestra

There was always a band playing in his head. Growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, Chris Harrison’s parents introduced him to psychedelic, funk, and electronic music at a young age and his father was in multiple bands that covered the range of the aforementioned genres. He always presented music as an option to Harrison with no pressure to ever pick up a single instrument. Although he appreciated the open support from his parents to explore many different avenues, Harrison still vividly remembers the moment he knew in his bones he never wanted to do anything else but play.

“Getting up on stage — I don’t remember much of it. I blacked out,” Harrison said of performing at Carnegie Hall with the National Children’s Chorus in high school. “It was the most adrenaline I’ve ever had in my life.” 

The element that also stood out to him in this visceral experience was performing and harmonizing with a group of people. This feeling set a wave in motion and established a foundation in Harrison’s soul that would eventually evolve into the creation of Her Modern Orchestra. 

Through a series of psychedelic mushroom experiences, Harrison was given the name Mer’kote, which in English translates to “The Elf King,” and will therefore be referred to this name throughout the article. 

After living with suicidal depression from the age of 13, Elf King tried psychedelic mushrooms to explore it’s potential benefits for his mental health. It indeed contributed to his healing and overall outlook on life, but he also found that it heightened his ability to write and compose music.

“The volume was turned up. Everything was clear. And I just kept thinking ‘time to write it down,’” Elf King said. 

Psychedelic mushrooms and music became congruent within Elf King’s process, and the integration of the two are very intentional and methodical for him. 

In the beginning, Elf King had all of these downloads of songs in his head and was just writing down everything he could. After that, his mission was to find true friends who understood the point of the band, not just good musicians. He wanted to create a healing and transformational experience for people listening to the music they were creating.

“Everybody goes through so many deep changes in their lives whether they want to or not,” Elf King said. “Psychedelia to me is all about living within the flow and flourishing within that instead of getting swept up by a current.” 

Psychedelic mushrooms, also known as psilocybin, can have extreme mental health benefits. Their ability to induce transformative experiences and promote neuroplasticity is the main contributing factor to increased introspection, empathy, an enhanced mood, creativity, and overall well-being. These effects depend on particular settings and individual experiences. 

When someone joins the band, they must first listen to Elf King’s already written music and engage with it while under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms. This intentional practice aims to expand the creativity and experience each band member has with the music they are channeling. 

“Chris has a vision and I really want to try to keep from altering it too much,” said band member and drummer Ryan Roberts. “I really want to help him see it through.” 

Although Her Modern Orchestra follows a structured format of Elf King writing all of the music and the band members playing what is already written, collective creation, community and collaboration still remain. 

“In some ways it is experimental but the whole process is very structured, very collaborative and very much like we are a part of a whole, not an individual creating art with these people,” Roberts said. “It's made me a better musician in a lot of ways.”

Individual vision and collective collaboration is beautifully balanced within the group. Elf King explained the reason why he wanted to bring in other’s to help create his music is because he was looking for friends. The aspiration was to “build a community and do it with true friends, not just musicians,” Elf King said.  

The band currently consists of four core members: Elf King as lead guitar and vocals, Roberts as the drummer and back up vocals, Winston Turner as the bass player, and Jasmin Blue on the saxophone and back up vocals. 

The group has been playing together for over two years now, but the synergy and magic was felt the first time the four of them played together live. Roberts hadn’t made it to a rehearsal in a while due to his busy schedule. 

“I remember going into that show being like ‘oh no I haven’t played these songs with everybody in a while,’ and I remember sitting down and we just crushed that show,” Roberts said. 

Her Modern Orchestra faced a major roadblock in 2022. Elf King was diagnosed with epilepsy and began having seizures almost every six months. Each time an episode occurred, the three month recovery derailed his everyday life. He had to retrain his short term memory and some motor skills, he wasn’t able to hold a job, and he could no longer drive. 

After being diagnosed with stress induced temporal lobe epilepsy, Elf King has been able to understand his condition better and move in the direction of learning how to live with it. Mushrooms have helped articulate this recovery process for him. 

The band inside Elf King’s head still plays on. The physical and mental toll of living with his condition does not stop the music, the band or the vision. If anything, this life changing experience has given Elf King a new perspective on everything. 

“Anything that happens, whether I live or die, it’s ok,” Elf King said. “Being ok with not being in a body and being ok with being in a body. I know I will be ok.” 

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The music in Elf King’s head always reveals itself in a classical format similar to the sound of an orchestra. Elf King learned how to play and write for a wide array of instruments so he could turn the sound inside his head into art he can share with the world. 

“I don't believe that the band in my head is separate from the band in other people's heads,” Elf King said. “I actually believe they're the same band. As long as people turn up the volume and listen with psilocybin, they're going to hear the same themes.”

Elf King’s intention is to create a modern day orchestra where the band consists of 10 plus members at one time or throughout its journey. He believes having multiple minds contributing to this project will create so many variations of sound, that they will be able to move multiple souls with their transformative music.

“I realized I have this talent,” Elf King said. “If I'm able to do this, I'm probably the one that should do it because it feels like the only natural idea that I can have.”

Her Modern Orchestra’s music can be found on several streaming platforms and information regarding their shows can be found on their instagram @hermodernorchestra