Debut album by Daniel McClelland, playing on SoundCloud for a limited time only. Anxious Heart explores what it means to be a man, living in a dog-eat-dog world. It was recorded in New York, NY in 2016, featuring Daniel on all instruments and singing all the vocal parts. Daniel moved home to New Zealand to finish post-production in Wellington. It was mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios. Artwork and Design by Jansen Cumbie. Photography by Gareth Bradley.,

Anxious Heart

I'm Yours

You Think You're A Rebel?

Dan, Dance

I Guess You Had To Go

Jack Of No Trades

Jack Of No Trades (2017 Version)

We Wanna Be Like You

I'll Never Love Again

You're Tongue-Tied

If You Thought About It

Baby, Set Me Free

Canary In This Mine

In 2018, Daniel McClelland was nominated for NZ's Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award. His follow-up blends alt-rock and alt-pop, with stacks and stacks of Beach Boys-influenced harmonies. It embraces the madness and anything-goes nature of records like Beck's 'Midnite Vultures' and Prince's 'Batman' soundtrack.

Daniel produced and recorded all of its dozens of parts and vocals himself. This is hammered home in the music video for the single, directed by Rajeev Mishra. The video is an indie labour of love, which features loads of special effect trickery to get 12 versions of Daniel on-screen, often simultaneously, all playing in a one-man band.

Check the music video out on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/QcT9YBkCgbA

Blotted Out The Background

'I'm Going Home' is from Daniel McClelland's EP 'Swallow Fear', out now on all major streaming/download services worldwide.

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Track info:

Having the courage to define where 'home' is. Having the resolve to remain overseas, though your heart yearns to return 'home'. Having the confidence your family trusts you're doing the right thing, even if that means living away from them.

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I'm Going Home - Lyrics

I'm going home today
to the place I was born,
then ran away to form a different home.

So if you see my family,
tell them I won't be long,
I'm tired of birthdays spent on my own.

I won't leave a forwarding address, just return it to sender.
Please thank them for their interest, say he left last November.
If they ask where I rest, just say you don't remember, but he's home.

The open road in front of me,
many horizons more,
I'll cross four oceans before I return.

Please grant me hospitality,
let me sleep upon your floor,
I'll be cold but hoping you'll let your log-wood burn.

I won't leave a forwarding address, just return it to sender.
Please thank them for their interest, say he left last November.
If they ask where I rest, just say you don't remember, but he's home.

When I finally arrive I'll be warmly greeted,
but as long as I'm alive I will feel defeated.
Should I go back to my past, or will my future be cheated
of a chance to form more pasts?

Oh please, remain seated - I AM home.

OK, I'll stay here instead today,
though my family's world's apart,
I know they're proud of me,
proud I left and stayed.

I know they missed me yesterday,
and though it breaks my heart,
I'm staying warily,
staying where my bed's made

So I won't leave a forwarding address,
don't return it to sender.
Thanks for your interest,
I'm hear well past next November.
I'm here, but I still remember my home

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Credits:
Written, performed, produced and mixed by Daniel McClelland
Mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, Wellington, NZ

Swallow Fear

I'm Going Home

'Joined, Entwined' is from Daniel McClelland's EP 'Swallow Fear', out now on all major streaming/download services worldwide.

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Track info:

A fictional story, of a couple, decades in to a marriage and after their children are grown, who grow the courage to rekindle their relationship

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Joined, Entwined - Lyrics

In she walked,
and he was floored.
She wore the dress
that he adored.

No-one talked.
Heart beats soared.
He felt blessed,
he thanked his Lord.

Joined, entwined,
wined and dined,
a finer time,
you'd never find.

Baby was born,
and by next June
the pair of parents'
honey-moon (was over).

She felt scorned (so scorned)
and out of tune (oh no).
Love disappeared and
they forgot that afternoon;

joined, entwined,
wined and dined...
a finer time,
would they ever find that time again?
Disjointed,
disappointed,
pinpointed
the disdain, the start of pain, a pain that stayed upon the brain

But the baby grew.
Time just flew!
Toddler dues
caused a parental short fuse.

Boyhood steps
while parents wept (they wept).
Teenager slept.
Parents dreamt of the windswept time they met;

joined, entwined,
wined and dined...
a finer time,
could they try to find that time again?
What's the point
of pinning pain?
They rejoined,
just to see if they could feel that way again, that lust, in twain, free reign.

Again she walked,
despite his flaws,
still fit that old dress
that he adored.

No-one talked.
Once stilled hearts soared.
Undressed, re-blessed,
they thanked his Lord.

Joined, entwined,
wined and dined.
They found the time
to find each other once again.
What's the point
of pinning pain?
They rejoined
and they felt that way again, that lust, in twain, free reign.

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Credits:

Written, performed, produced and mixed by Daniel McClelland
Mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, Wellington, NZ

Joined, Entwined

'Turn My Cheek' is from Daniel McClelland's EP 'Swallow Fear', out now on all major streaming/download services worldwide.

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Track info:
A song about speaking truth to power. Because we are afraid of those who wield power, we are corrupted by that deference. It takes braveness to turn one's cheek in defiance.
lyrics
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Turn My Cheek - Lyrics

Oh it's a messed-up world, trying to bring me to my knees,
but I won't let it beat me down.
It's not just your attitude, it's famine, it's disease.
But I won't let them put me in the ground.

"I don't mind. I don't care" my mantra on repeat.
I bide my time. I swallow fear.
I try and turn my cheek.

You stoke, you fume, you blame, you try to choke my voice.
But I've got a breathing mask.
You poke, exhume, you lie and throw your toys.
I just can't. I stand ashamed, aghast.

"I don't mind. I don't care" my mantra on repeat.
I bide my time. I swallow fear.
I try and turn my cheek.

I feel like... you rage like... I stand tall, try and turn my cheek.
Won't back down... you beat down... I'm so low. You YOLO.
What do I know?

"I don't mind. I don't care" my mantra on repeat.
I bide my time. I swallow fear.
I try and turn my cheek.

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Credits:

Written, performed, produced and mixed by Daniel McClelland
Mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, Wellington, NZ

Turn My Cheek

'So Happy' is from Daniel McClelland's EP 'Swallow Fear', out now on all major streaming/download services worldwide.

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Track info:
Conquering cherophobia; an aversion to happiness. All music performed by Daniel McClelland.

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So Happy - Lyrics

I'm so happy, I don't care if this song sucks;
it'll make you blush, yeah.
I'm so amped up I'll TYPE IT IN CAPS LOCK;
I'm in a rush, yeah.

I'm so satisfied, so amped up,
I'm amplified. I'm in love?

You're so gorgeous, your hair is black satin;
you're magnificent.
Call me outrageous, let's write a matinee;
we're so innocent, yeah.

I'm so darned naive,
and I'm so eager to leave
my past.

I'm young and dumb, but you're older and smarter too
so this can't be dumb?

I'm so happy, I don't care if this song sucks;
it'll make you blush, yeah oh darlin'.

I'm so satisfied, so amped up,
I'm amplified. I'm in love?

I'm in love.

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Credits:
Written, performed, produced and mixed by Daniel McClelland
Mastered by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, Wellington, NZ

So Happy

'Blotted Out The Background' is from Daniel McClelland's EP 'Swallow Fear', out now on all major streaming/download services worldwide. It's also the first single from the EP, and can be viewed as a music video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QcT9YBkCgbA. In the video, just like the music it accompanies, Daniel belongs to no one genre, and plays all the parts himself.

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Blotted Out The Background - Lyrics

You want it?
Come get it!
Come get it from me

You want me?
Come get me
Try to catch up to me

Blowin' dust
Blowin' up
Growin' faster than you

Stow-away
Go away
Go away from my wake

You're holding me up
You're slowin' me down
I'm prepping for my closeup
but you blotted out the background

Are you doing this
to see if I can
stare in the abyss
of your life man
'Cause I'm the wiz
It'll take more than
your attempts to diss me

to bring me down
to shut me up
to push me away

I give freely
You wanna kill the
talent in me

You destroy
and I improve
I'm toying wit'choo

Your words don't sting
I still can sing
My one liners zing

You're holding me up
You're slowin' me down
I'm prepping for my closeup
but you blotted out the background

You're holding me up
You're slowin' me down
I'm prepping for my closeup
but you blotted out the background

Are you doing this
to see if I can
stare in the abyss
of your life man
'Cause I'm the wiz
It'll take more than
your attempts to diss me

I'm tired of your crap
I'll double-track to recap,
while you napped I rapped to handclaps
and mapped out what the haps was.
While you ordered frappe lattes
I slapped you silly.
Mind the gap, Imma lap you,
no time for your crap

You're holding me up
You're slowin' me down
I'm prepping for my closeup
but you blotted out the background

You're holding me up
You're slowing me down

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Music Credits:
Written, Performed, Produced, and Mixed by Daniel McClelland
Mastering by Mike Gibson at Munki Studios, Wellington, NZ
Photography by Gareth Bradley

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Imagine if The Beach Boys listened to more Michael Jackson and Nirvana. That's Wellington-based Daniel McClelland's music! His debut, Anxious Heart, was released in August 2017. www.danielmcclelland.com for more info

Daniel McClelland

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