"An empty room, for living no more"
Turnaround by Melbourne singer-songwriter Daniel Trakell is the perfect paring of song and singer. Now that might seem so obvious considering this is singer-songwriter stuff but, believe me, it is not always the case. Trakell's vocal aesthetic is easy, not ostentatious or unduly stylistic, it just is earnest and real. Trakell is blessed with the ability to not only write holistically (the guitar strains he composes are as moving as his vocal performance) but to also write his poetry with the depth of emotions that pulls you right into his narrative:
"Take the sermon in your head / Throw it out, see what takes root instead / All that weighs heavy on your soul / Let it go, before it takes hold"
While his words are incredibly tender, in and of themselves, the character of his voice sells it as does his ascending melodies. The thing is, the chorus is truly a "pop" chorus in the sense that it is extremely catchy and crowd pleasing and sing-a-longish. Those are all good characteristics to have in terms of being commercial and casting a wide net and sometimes that doesn't appeal to me but Trakell's songwriting is so damn beautiful (and pained) that it rises about all that. It is incredibly rendered, a great song most likely because it comes from real moments, real pain.
Of the song, Trakell shares:
"Turnaround is about giving yourself time to pause and process things after life deals you a heavy blow and having the strength to get up and keep going. More specifically it touches on divorce and the moment I found out my parents were separating. My dad continued to live in our old family house by himself for a couple of years after my mum moved out, and I remember the sadness, helplessness and guilt I felt whenever I went back to my hometown to visit him and he wasn’t coping."
In the end, because Turnaround has melodies that contain both pain and a kind of resolute comfort or acceptance and is just so beautiful, it keeps playing, popping up in my head for the last two weeks. That is not a bad thing.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
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PRAISE FOR DANIEL TRAKELL
“Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Daniel Trakell partners the title track from his March EP with an enchanting video that captures both sides of his sound - haunting, melancholic isolation and just off-centre obscurity - as we follow a woods-dwelling loner searching for the ultimate peacefulness - getting lost in space.”
Rolling Stone Australia
“It’s like Elliott Smith on a magical mystery tour.”
Triple J, Dom Alessio (‘Wasted Light’)
“So many sweet little delicacies to unpack in this one. The sneaky-emotional string arrangement, the delicate glockenspiel, your faultless falsetto. I am charmed.”
Triple J, Max Quinn (‘All We Do’)
“The piano starts, soon after the double tracked vocals begin. The drums then drop in halfway through. A guitar solo appears from nowhere, then a touch of horns and strings blend in at the end. Copybook Beatles' arrangement, but f**k it still sounds good”.
Triple J, Richard Kingsmill (‘Wasted Light’)
“Oasis meets Tobias Jesso Jr.”
GBH Music Magazine
With delicately constructed guitar, lilting vocals and a matured lyricism, Melbourne songwriter Daniel Trakell returns with his first release for 2020 in ‘Let Me Be’. A song that wraps the listener up instantly with its warmth and rich musicality, ‘Wisdom/Boredom’ explores Trakell’s developed songwriting skill since his last single ‘Wisdom/Boredom’ further put him on the map as an artist to watch.
‘Let Me Be’ is a reflective piece, as Trakell takes on the choices people make as life continues to roll on. “‘Let Me Be is a song about falling behind, burning out and needing some time out from it all for a little while, respectfully asking for some space. .” Daniel Trakell
Working together with friend and frequent collaborator Joshua Barber (Gretta Ray, Gotye) in the studio, Trakell thrived once more in Barber’s new home of Nashville; soaking up the energy of the Alex The Great Studio before the final touches were put on back in Australia. The end result has delivered a gorgeously layered piece of indie folk with touches of Bon Iver, Dustin Tebbutt and Fleet Foxes-esque influences threaded throughout. Trakell has injected touching emotion onto each of his releases thus far but on ‘Let Me Be’, the songwriter goes deeper than we have heard before.
danieltrakell
soundcloud
bandcamp
PRAISE FOR DANIEL TRAKELL
“Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Daniel Trakell partners the title track from his March EP with an enchanting video that captures both sides of his sound - haunting, melancholic isolation and just off-centre obscurity - as we follow a woods-dwelling loner searching for the ultimate peacefulness - getting lost in space.”
Rolling Stone Australia
“It’s like Elliott Smith on a magical mystery tour.”
Triple J, Dom Alessio (‘Wasted Light’)
“So many sweet little delicacies to unpack in this one. The sneaky-emotional string arrangement, the delicate glockenspiel, your faultless falsetto. I am charmed.”
Triple J, Max Quinn (‘All We Do’)
“The piano starts, soon after the double tracked vocals begin. The drums then drop in halfway through. A guitar solo appears from nowhere, then a touch of horns and strings blend in at the end. Copybook Beatles' arrangement, but f**k it still sounds good”.
Triple J, Richard Kingsmill (‘Wasted Light’)
“Oasis meets Tobias Jesso Jr.”
GBH Music Magazine
With delicately constructed guitar, lilting vocals and a matured lyricism, Melbourne songwriter Daniel Trakell returns with his first release for 2020 in ‘Let Me Be’. A song that wraps the listener up instantly with its warmth and rich musicality, ‘Wisdom/Boredom’ explores Trakell’s developed songwriting skill since his last single ‘Wisdom/Boredom’ further put him on the map as an artist to watch.
‘Let Me Be’ is a reflective piece, as Trakell takes on the choices people make as life continues to roll on. “‘Let Me Be is a song about falling behind, burning out and needing some time out from it all for a little while, respectfully asking for some space. .” Daniel Trakell
Working together with friend and frequent collaborator Joshua Barber (Gretta Ray, Gotye) in the studio, Trakell thrived once more in Barber’s new home of Nashville; soaking up the energy of the Alex The Great Studio before the final touches were put on back in Australia. The end result has delivered a gorgeously layered piece of indie folk with touches of Bon Iver, Dustin Tebbutt and Fleet Foxes-esque influences threaded throughout. Trakell has injected touching emotion onto each of his releases thus far but on ‘Let Me Be’, the songwriter goes deeper than we have heard before.
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