Selected Works

It began as a traditional finger-style acoustic guitar song. I kicked it around for a few months and wasn’t getting anywhere. I relied on my “oblique strategies” deck of cards and got rid of the most important elements. I rebuilt it into something I could not have imagined otherwise. The song deals with believing in less as I’ve gotten older. There seems to only be more disappointments over time. It’s about finding peace with it.

Summerland (EP)

Summerland

My favorite track from the EP. It’s the closest I’ve gotten to accurately capturing a state of mind. I’ve been at odds with myself for most of the year and unsure of my future. It feels like a resignation but it’s more hopeful than it seems. I liked the idea of “heaven” not necessarily being what it seems. The song features a friend of mine on trumpet and the last note runs into the first song on the EP. It’s unending – if you let it.

Like Unending Heaven

The words and music came spontaneously from an open tuning I had been messing around with. I strummed the melody and the words seemed to follow. The song is about wanting to be in different place than the one I was in. I found peace focusing on my surroundings instead of myself.

Among The Wildflowers

The song starts off with, and features, a broken 4-track cassette recorder. I recorded a synth on it and incorporated all of the weird noises it would make on playback.


I'm not who I thought I'd be
Stuck inside a computer screen
Edging towards demise

I don't need no color TV
Just want to know what you think of me
It helps me pass the time

I know I'm wrong
But it feels so right
I know I won't survive

I'm not who I hoped to be
Fixed on a front flashing screen
With a filter on my side

I know you barely know me
Take a chance and show me something more
Slip your clothes onto the floor

And it feels so wrong
When you oddly oblige
I know I won't reply

Dim the lights I'm a troubled sleeper
A silhouette of a guilty dreamer
In a dirty fantasy

All I know is barely sleeping
All you pixel queens cut like magazines
Are fueling my desire

I know I'm wrong
But it feels so right
I know I won't survive

Pixel Queens - Single

Pixel Queens

“Sudden Spring” is built around a guitar part that came to me while stuck at home in early April. There was a lot of uncertainty. I was out of work and upcoming plans fell apart. Within 10 minutes I had all of the words and a rough demo. A week later the song was finished. In all the good and bad there's still something to be hopeful about. There's still peace to be found.

Sudden Spring - EP

Sudden Spring

I make music and stuff. Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Selected Works

Daniel John