"it's been a long time since I've been social"
Listening to Black Dog, Yellow Morning by Ontario artist, singer-songwriter, diy producer David James Allen and you might feel transported somewhere. Maybe because I have an escapist streak, I tend to fade into periods of time via film. About only 30 seconds in to "Black Dog, Yellow Morning" and I saw broken conman "Ratso" Rizzo and naive prostitute Joe Buck walking down New York Streets. The movie is the 1969 Midnight Cowboy. If you haven't seen it, see it. Allen's overall aesthetic, his propensity to mine a retro sound and (to me) mine a kind of sadcore, folk chamber pop tone is so evocative of that time. It makes his songs feel classic. He also sounds a bit like Harry Nilsson (more in narrative temperament than sound) who penned music for Midnight Cowboy (another connection maybe in my ping ponging brain matter). Listening to what he has offered from his upcoming "Radiations" album (due to drop in October 2020) has some wonderful sounds that hearken to that same creative bag, to Nilsson and to later John Lennon. Both luminaries were friends and did some cool projects together and there is something in Allen's sound that is somewhat similar. Maybe it is the sort of blendo sound, bits of honky tonk, blues, country, light jazz rock underpinnings and that sadness. The wistful longing, maybe the unrequited cosmic love.
Go to David James Allen's Bandcamp page and poke around. If you like music that is not steeped in current indie tropes, music that had earnest wonderfully askew poetry delivered with a voice that has it's own unique persona (instead of a version of Julian Casablancas) then you will make some wonderful discoveries that will transport you, just like I said.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
spotify
davidjamesallen.ca
bandcamp
David James Allen wears many hats. A singer-songwriter, graphic artist, DIY record producer and poet – all of which he puts to good use in his growing body of work. In 2017, Allen established himself as a bona fide roots music auteur with his debut album When The Demons Come, a collection of wide-ranging alt-country, folk, blues and gospel influences. Critics have called it “a stone cold brilliant album that should not become a tiny footnote of Canada’s music history” and “one of the more sublime debut albums of 2017”. His sophmore album, Radiations, will be released on GRMNT DSTRCT Records in 2020 nearly as soon as it is recorded! The album is composed of 10 tracks, all of which Allen will be recording, producing, designing artwork for and releasing; one-song-each-month, out of his home studio in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
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