Spokane’s Water Monster releases debut album

Over the past few years, Max Harnishfeger has become a key figure in the Spokane music scene as a member of Cathedral Pearls and Super Sparkle.

But while writing, recording and performing with both acts (Super Sparkle, for example, recently completed a string of Northwest tour dates), Harnishfeger has also been tinkering away on his electronic soul solo project Water Monster.

Harnishfeger released his first EP as Water Monster, “Survive the Night,” in August 2014.

Four years later, Harnishfeger will release his debut solo album, “Tensus,” on Friday.

He’ll celebrate the album with a release show Saturday at the Bartlett.

Harnishfeger wrote, performed and mixed the 10-song album almost entirely by himself, with Super Sparkle bandmate Scott Ryan playing electric guitar.

In a statement, Harnishfeger described “Tensus,” the Latin word for tension, as “a hymnal in my times of trouble.”

“Moments of anxiety and discomfort have pushed me into some of the most blissful experiences of satisfaction I’ve ever known,” he said.

The first release from the album, “Window,” finds Harnishfeger and local rapper T.S. the Solution wandering around an abandoned building.

Harnishfeger released the second video from “Tensus,” “Lavish Life,” earlier this week.

If you go: 8 p.m. Saturday; The Bartlett, 228 W. Sprague Ave.; $8-$10, available through Ticketfly.