Dan From Downingtown | Interview | New Single, ‘ My Kind Of Normal’
Meet Dan From Downingtown: A musician, singer, songwriter, and percussionist from Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
From his beautiful, thought-invoking lyrics down to his reflective cinematography, Dan From Downingtown is a fresh artistic force to be reckoned with.
As a hand at a computer mouse comes into view and clicks on ‘My Kind Of Normal (Lyric Video)’ we realize that we are starting off in some seriously meta territory. As Dan From Downingtown begins to paint this sonic scene, we get tastes of chill hop/ glitch and soft trappy drums that blossom into a fusion-indie-rock – all before the lyrics:
“As I close my eyes…
Hold the pain inside
Oh god, won’t you help me?”
The bright feeling of the new lilting 6/8 section is directly contrasted by pleading lines and poetic outbursts such as the lyric “From the map of feelings I’ve carved onto me.” But as we make our way to the chorus, what was once melancholy became a longing Mitski-eque love song.
“Why do I want you?
Why do I need you?”
Dan From Downingtown’s voice transformed into a warm, round sound – a complete 180. Then we switch timbres and sounds again to something akin to Tiny Moving Parts meets American Football, yet melodic. The song continues this push and pull between desire and pleading, wondering and self-doubt. All while the music video adds a sense of levity, depicting the artist quite literally sawing off the words on the screen.
‘My Kind of Normal’ is a sonic poem for everyone who has ever shoved their feelings in a box and pushed people away… and for those who have admired someone so much you wanted to not just be with them but to be them. But all this still leaves us wondering…what could Dan mean by ‘My Kind of normal’?
After the chorus of brass and vocals warp away into nothingness, we’re still left with questions.
How would you describe living and being a musician in Downingtown, Pennsylvania?
I actually moved out of Downingtown some time ago. I’m still near the area, but I wanted to get a little closer to the city so I could land gigs with other musicians. As far as growing up in Downingtown, it was pretty quiet. There’s a lot of people in the area, but it still has sort of a “backwoods” Pennsylvania vibe. When I was living there, the music scene was pretty much entirely supported by the local college musicians in West Chester, PA. Not to mention, Bam Margera and the CKY/Jackass guys kept a lot of the local rock music alive, because they were operating one town over. Other than that, most of the music scene centered around Philadelphia, or the Jersey shore.
What are the pros and cons of recording all the instruments on your own?
The thing I love about home recording is that you can be as free as you want without worrying about getting a bad take, or burning an outrageous amount of studio money. It also allows you to experiment with different sounds that you may not have time for in an actual studio. Honestly, the technology is at the point where I don’t think you necessarily need a studio anymore. Of course, that being said I do miss recording in actual studios. There is sort of an intimate vibe, and feeling that you only really get in a place like that. And of course, no room will sound as good as a million dollar studio like Abbey Road. But I say, give it a few years and the recording software will get pretty dang close.
What advice do you have for artists who are transitioning from being in a band to operating a whole project on your own?
Get weird with it! The one thing that I do miss about being in a band is the sharing of ideas between multiple people. But when you’re releasing stuff on your own, it is the most musical freedom you can possibly have. Even if you’re doing a lot of the work yourself.
Dan From Downingtown Instagram / Tik Tok / YouTube
