Daniel G. Harmann & The Trouble Starts (Seattle, WA)
DGH – Vocals, Guitar
Forrest Haskell – Bass
Kelly Dale – Guitar
Shea Bliss – Drums
Risk (Burning Building)
For his sixth album, entitled Risk, Daniel G. Harmann has beefed up his sound with The Trouble Starts. Primarily a solo artist, Harmann describes the new album as a collection of “Big songs you dream about making and playing to lots of people”. Risk was recorded live over five days at Electrokitty Studios with Long Winters bassist Eric Corson. On Risk, Harmann and his band have created an intriguing collection of working class art rock with a full, sweeping sound leaving the pretension firmly at the door.
Risk is lyrically all about taking chances. On the urgent, sobering opener “We Are Professionals”, Harmann describes the “slicing skin and crushing bone” he has experienced working construction and that it’s “always feast or famine / in my glass or in my bed”. “The Horse and The Sistine Chapel” is the first single from the album, and is also the shortest track — “It’s about someone evil,” Harmann says, allowing the imagery to tell the tale. At the other end of the spectrum emotionally and time-length wise, the eight minute penultimate “Estrella” describes the caring family he loves so much (“We are the kind to call when they arrive,” he sings). Committing fully to a relationship around the time he was shocked as an electrician provides the back story of “I Became The Ground”. A convergence of experiences compared to a devastating plane crash in the torqued, almost post-punk of “Auckland to Auckland” — its tracks sequenced to show Harmann’s gift for describing change and mindfulness open up, along with the hooks. Or something as simple as “Knob Creek Neat,” an ode to “battling your demons, whatever they may be,” Harmann says.
On Risk, Harmann & The Trouble Starts has crafted an album that is difficult to pigeonhole. Risk lives and breathes at two separate corners only to meet somewhere perfectly in the middle between the elegant and the abrasive. “Call it what you will,” Harmann says, “but at its core, its rock and roll. It’s dirty and imperfect. It’s quiet and loud.” Finding beauty in the simpleness of everyday life is what sustains us all. Harmann knows this and the emotional depth within Risk is honest and remarkably uplifting.
- Chris Etsey contributed to this bio
Press Contact: Will Miller – will@beartrappr.com
