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Music News - Daniel McClelland - ​'Swallow Fear'

Daniel McClelland - ​'Swallow Fear'

13 November 2019 - 0 Comments

In 2018's Taite Music awards ceremony, Daniel McClelland's first album punched above its weight. ​Anxious Heart ​ earned a nomination for the​ ​Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award​.​ ​Radio New Zealand​'s ​The Sampler ​ had said it was a "character of an album that aims to rehabilitate the genre of classic pop-rock - no small goal - and in its best moments comes close to achieving it." The album charted at #2 on the NZ Heatseeker Album Charts​.​ ​Muzic.net.nz​ said it's "a delightful reminder of how music should be made."

A year later, McClelland is back, with a follow-up. ​His new EP is called Swallow Fear. It will be released on November 24th.​ The record asks the listener to take a deep breath and start conquering their anxieties. In a mere 17 minutes, McClelland takes on: perfectionism; an aversion to happiness; bigotry; parenthood; and the impact of emigration on families. As you may have guessed, this is no ordinary pop record.

In fact, it’s hard to classify it as a singular type of ‘pop’ at all. ​Swallow Fear sees McClelland fuse together a myriad of genres. In particular, he embraced hip hop, grunge, 90's dance, 60's symphonic pop, and glam rock. Each track's a “pocket symphony”, inspired by the likes of Brian Wilson, early-era George Harrison and Beck. McClelland's music is bombastic and major-key. It embraces exuberance. It's at once retro and fresh. ​Swallow Fear flies in the face of the norms of today's pop scene.

The record's rich Beach Boys influenced harmonies were all self-recorded, layered together over dozens of hours of self-performed overdubs. ​Swallow Fear stretches the definition of “one-man band” to its extremes. McClelland wrote, recorded, engineered and produced every note in every boisterous track, all at home, in Lower Hutt. NZ music legend Mike Gibson, of Munki Studios, mastered the EP. Wellingtonian photographer Gareth Bradley took the cover photo.

McClelland is releasing a ​music video for the lead single, Blotted Out The Background. The video will be available on YouTube and major social media platforms on November 17th​. Directed by Rajeev Mishra, it stars Daniel as 12 versions of himself. These characters all appear on screen with each other, through meticulous split-screen techniques. The crew filmed guerilla style, on location in Wellington, over several weekends. Like the music itself, the video smashes together several genres. War rages between Western, Sci-Fi, Horror and Noir aspects of McClelland's personality. By the end of the video, Daniel's distilled essence boils down to one remaining character.

Swallow Fear ​will be available on all major streaming services on November 24th. CD's will be available for purchase, via Bandcamp.


Next: Coridian Unleash New Video For Rite Of Passage On The Eve Of North Island Tour

Prev: Dead Little Penny Release Debut Album – 'Urge Surfing'

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