Browsing Tag

Denim Dan

Denim Dan is in the borderlands between optimism and pensive resignation in the folky 60s psych-pop single, ‘Guess I’ll Be Alright’

Posted on 2 September 2024
Denim Dan

The invitation to celebrate Denim Dan’s 25th Anniversary (1994 – 2024) is the hottest sonic ticket on the airwaves. The commemorative LP compilates some of the biggest hits from the band’s seven studio album legacy, including 3AM, Don’t Throw it Away, Let Your Love Fall Down on Me (Too) and Down By the River Bend Flow.

Every release earned its coveted space on the expansive double album, yet potentially none more so than the quintessential kaleidoscope of eccentric nostalgia, Guess I’ll Be Alright. After a smoky 60s psych-pop overture, the single unravels in Denim Dan’s signature folk troubadour style, which permits his vocals to flood the mix over the cosmically swanky melodies.

Few artists dare to lyrically roam in the grey area between pensive resignation and optimism, yet Denim Dan boldly ventured over unchartered emotional territory to sonically visualise a relatable sensation of suffering a blow to the soul but looking ahead with jaded self-assurance that wounds will eventually heal.

Following the release of Denim Dan’s 25th Anniversary (1994 – 2024), Denim Dan is starting a new chapter with a new album in the pipeline and set to drop in November 2024.

The anniversary album will be available to stream on all platforms, including Spotify, from September 2nd.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan falls slowly in their 70s-tinged pop-rock serenade, Santa Maria’s Dome

Posted on 11 December 2023

Santa Maria’s Dome, the eponymous single from Denim Dan’s latest LP, is a captivating piece, rich in both emotional depth and musical charm. This track, set against the backdrop of the band’s established dusted with 70s pop-rock tones, offers listeners a heartfelt narrative wrapped in a nostalgically magnetic soundscape.

The song tells the story of a budding May-December romance, exploring themes of connection and age difference with a poignant yet optimistic lens. It speaks to the universal experience of meeting someone you want to share life’s journeys with because going it alone would only make you feel far from home.

The vocal warmth adds a layer of affability, creating a balance between the potentially tear-jerking subject matter and a more light-hearted, playful air. This juxtaposition is meticulously handled, ensuring the song remains emotionally engaging without becoming overly sentimental.

Denim Dan, hailing from Boulder, Colorado, has been a consistent presence in the music scene since their formation in 1996. Their journey from the debut album Your Foreign Town to their internationally acknowledged sixth album This Way That Way The Other Way showcases a band that has matured and evolved while maintaining its core musical identity. Santa Maria’s Dome, their seventh studio album, continues this trajectory, offering both long-time fans and new listeners a deeply engaging experience.

Stream the Santa Maria’s Dome album in full on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Take a soulfully psychedelic trip back to the 70s with DENIM DAN’s latest single, Guess I’ll Be Alright

Posted on 26 November 2023

“Guess I’ll Be Alright” from Denim Dan is a portal back to the smooth and rich tones of 70s rock and the vibrant psychedelic colours of 60s pop. While it marks a daring step in the band’s sound, it maintains the comforting and straightforward vocal style fans have come to adore from the outfit, which banded together in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996.

There’s an unmistakable soulfulness within the smoky layers of the music, with nods to Northern Soul and a subtle jazz influence that Denim Dan integrates seamlessly; the resulting sound is both nostalgic and fresh, an ambitious blend that pays homage to the past while forging its own path.

Following the international recognition with their sixth album, their seventh, Santa Maria’s Dome, from which Guess I’ll Be Alright is prised, resounds as a cultivated new beginning. A track which focuses on two friends trying to get the other over addiction could all too easily become a sombre sonic feat, but via the depth of the storytelling, the texturally upbeat musical backdrop and the signature vocals, which always portray melancholy as an option you need not take, Guess I’ll Be Alright is a realm of captivatingly uplifting intrigue.

Stream DENIM DAN’s latest album, Santa Maria’s Dome on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan created a capsule of 70s folk-pop-rock nostalgia in their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way

Posted on 26 April 2023

NYC’s Denim Dan fortified the folk-pop-rock realm once again with their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way, which will ricochet you back to the 70s via an aural time capsule you have never experienced the like of before. Under the heart-on-sleeve influence of Tom Petty & The HeartBreakers, Lou Reed & Leonard Cohen, you will also be able to reminisce on the slightly zanier production styles of Zappa and the Legendary Pink Dots in this warm vignette of fond memories forged in an era of personal freedom and revelation.

There are few things as sonically sweet as coming-of-age tales after decades of retrospect. The kaleidoscopically honeyed soundscapes in This Way, That Way, The Other Way allows you to cruise right back to the 70s while allowing your perceptions to shift around the pearls of wanderlust wisdom.

“This Way, That Way, The Other Way is our sixth studio album. A non-fiction coming-of-age narration of loosely factual true events from my time in New Mexico in the mid 1970s. The title track and first four songs were written in Florence, Italy during the pandemic when I felt inspired to write about my experiences of four decades earlier. The next eight songs – also written about that period – including Let Your Love Fall Down On Me [too] were recorded in 2001 right after 911 in Boulder, Colorado. They were forgotten…but my son, Marcello, found them in an old computer.”

Stream This Way, That Way, The Other Way on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan has released his blissfully bitter-sweet folky pop-rock serenade, 3AM (I Call You Up)

Posted on 15 January 2023

Denim Dan is fresh from the release of his fourth studio LP, 3AM; the 70s folky pop-rock album is one you will want to while away the small hours with to keep at bay the nefarious thoughts your mind summons when it hits the pillow.

The dreamy, spacey sincerity of the title single, which proves die-hard romanticism will never go out of trend, takes a break from the trippy colourful psych tones to serenade with an ardent rock riff that stands as a testament to the creative power and talent poured into the blissfully bitter-sweet serenade.

For any Bob Dylan fans, Denim Dan has also recently debuted his cover album, Denim Dan Meets Dylan… A Tribute. No matter how much you think you know Dylan, you’ve never met him quite like this before. Denim Dan’s quintessentially affable vocal command and his swanky yet innocently sweet instrumental style are cutely visionary.

Hear both albums via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Psych Soul Food is Back on the Menu with Denim Dan’s Return to the Airwaves

Posted on 25 January 2022

The NYC psychedelically blessed folk-pop-rock powerhouse, Denim Dan, serenaded us with their seminal spacey album, No Guarantee, ahead of the release of their upcoming album, 3AM.

Each of the singles on the 2020 album, No Guarantee, provides the opportunity to shift the ennui and existentialism out of your worldview. To complement the psychedelic tones, the enlightened lyricism that was penned to hit the evocative spot by uplifting just as much as the transcending instrumental timbres.

After forming in the 90s, Denim Dan’s fusion of 60s pop and 70s rock has remained just as sweet in the 21st century. Instead of modernising their sound that carries reminiscences to The Beatles, Steely Dan, Bowie and Tom Petty, they’ve stayed true to cathartically resonant form.

Along with the release of their upcoming album, the nostalgia-inducing outfit are also set to release their tribute to Bob Dylan to coincide with the opening of the Bob Dylan Museum in Tulsa, OK. They are well worth a spot on your radar.

Denim Dan’s 2020 album, No Guarantee, is available to stream in full via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Keeping that positive mindset: Denim Dan shows us that through darkness ‘Life Has Just Begun’

Posted on 5 January 2021

Taken off the recent twelve-track full album release ‘No Guarantee‘, ‘Life Has Just Begun‘ from US singer-songwriter Denim Dan is the latest gritty song from the prolific musician with a real message for us all.

With an electric start that powers in with some hot bass-lines that will cause you some sunburn if you don’t turn it up loud enough, we are soon treated to a poet on a mission to spread his own brand of positive energy.

His vibrant tone shows us that we need to jump into the pool of life and not think twice as this is the only way to stay sane in this crazy world. We have all been stuck into thinking way too far ahead, not living into the moment and this is what 2020 taught us. Starting fresh is the mindset to use and not to let anything else drag you down.

His voice is a true guiding light through the darkness and Denim Dan brings us a can full of thought-snacks via ‘Life Has Just Begun‘. He is a man who is choosing to stay positive about horrible times and for this, we all need to take a deep breath and listen to his truthful message.

Stream his new song here on Spotify.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen