Hailing from Wilkes-Barre, PA, Daniel John is a musician whose unique and uncompromising sound is quite stunning. His latest release, ‘Velvet Shedding’ hears gorgeous melodies set to a backdrop of brilliant beats to keep the listener enthralled from the beginning to the very end of the album.

‘Slumber Sun’ opens the record, it has a gentle beginning and feels like an awakening. Marching drums emerge from a swirling backdrop and the melody builds the feel. The excitement is wonderfully palpable.

We adored the title track ‘Velvet Shedding’, the vocals are swimming in reverb and the melody is laid back and easy going. Ascending melodies feed the soul of the track and all of the instrumentation works beautifully together.

Our other favourite tracks are, ‘Hinterland’ for its earthy feel, ‘Moonflower’ for the delicious harmonies and, ‘Crestfallen’ which brings the album full circle and cements this beautiful piece of art. ‘Bellwether’ is an impressive 15minutes long and takes the listener on a magnificent journey in that time.

John describes the album, “It’s a sprawling album meant to be listened to from beginning to end. Each ‘side’ ends with the same theme to bookend the album.” He continues, “This album is me carving away at myself and where I came from. During it, my grandfather died and revealed a lot of emotions I didn’t know how to process. Not only was I growing as a person, but I was discovering things about my family I did not know previously. The album title stems from growth – when a male deer is growing it sheds its antlers.” We think John has made an album his grandfather would have been extremely proud of.

So if you are looking for excellent music this weekend look no further, ‘Velvet Shedding’ is available now!

FVMusicBlog October 2019

http://www.daniel-john.net
Instagram: @slumbersun
Twitter: @_daniel_john