Daniel James of Canon Blue
Canon Blue is one of those bands that you need to let the music sink in and really permeate to fully appreciate it. Having done collaborations with amiina, Sigur Rós’ string section, and Efterklang, their compositions reflect layered and thoughtful sensibilities, like the kind that are best experienced when you can just put a record on and sit back and take it in. Before their recent show at Glasslands, I sat down with Daniel James, the man behind Canon Blue, who came across as a genuine artist in conversation and also delivered a pretty great live set a few hours later. Read on and listen to the single “A Native (Madison)” below
Canon Blue: “A Native” (Madison) by wearesolidgold
Kelly Knapp: How long have you been making music?
Daniel James: I started taking piano lessons when I was a kid, and probably wrote my first song in 3rd grade, so I’ve been doing it for a while. Even in high school or middle school, I had an old Sony boombox, and I would make cassette tapes of songs in my bedroom, so I’ve been doing it for a long time. But Canon Blue, specifically, I’ve been doing since like 2005-2006.
KK: Do you remember the first song you wrote?
DJ: I don’t, honestly. It was on piano…I don’t even remember, it was a long time ago.
KK: Was there a point where you knew this was what you wanted to do?
DJ: Yeah. I think I started my first band when I was in 6th grade, and I was really into soccer growing up, and at the time that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to play professionally and do all that. Then somewhere around middle school or high school I just really got into music, and I think that’s when I knew I didn’t want to do soccer anymore, I just wanted to focus on music. It was like there had been a shift that happened.
KK: What’s your songwriting process like?
DJ: It’s really random. I’ve never been good at just sitting down on an instrument and just writing a song top to bottom. I tend to start with a sample or melody idea, or weird instrument that might be lying around the studio, and then I’ll just try to write as many ideas as quickly as possible around that, and then just kind of refine it and keep messing with it until it turns into a song. Which, there’s pros and cons. I think it forces you to write differently then you would if you’re just trying to write on a guitar, but then the challenge is being able to reduce it back to one instrument. I think all good songs should be able to be reduced to one instrument. That’s when you know it’s a solid song. That’s the give and take of the process. It’s pretty random. Every song is different, how I start it.
KK: So just randomly, you’ll start with a glockenspiel or something?
DJ: Yeah, yeah totally. Or like, a lot of the songs on the record, I was on the road so I would just kind of sample something and then just keep jacking with it until something triggered either a further idea or melody in my head, and it would just go from there.
KK: Do you play a lot of instruments, then?
DJ: I dabble. I’m not really proficient or professional at anything, but I tend to just try to figure something out. I don’t like to keep instruments in their normal box. I’m just interested in sound, in general. Even if I can’t play an instrument that well, I can see it as a generator of sound.
KK: And you’ve done touring with Efterklang.
DJ: Yeah, I play guitar for them, and I’ve done three big tours with them over the years, and a couple random one-offs.
KK: How did you hook up with those guys?
DJ: Through MySpace, actually. Years ago, when MySpace actually was something. When I did my first record, I handmade a bunch of copies, and sent them to some bands and labels I really liked. They really were the only people that responded, and we just kind of struck up a friendship through that, and they ended up putting out my first record because they have their own label. Through that, we just kind of got to know each other and it lead to me playing guitar for them eventually.
KK: What’s it like between touring with another band and doing your own project?
DJ: I mean, obviously you have way more control over your own project, and it’s just you, but I like both. I like being in a supportive role, and with a band like Efterklang, who are much further along in their career, you can kind of learn from them like, ‘Oh, that’s a really cool idea, I like how that works,’ or like ‘that didn’t work so well.’ You’re able to gain a lot of information and know-how without having the pressure of it being your project. You can let other people make mistakes, and just kind of go along for the ride.
KK: And hopefully you make less of your own.
DJ: Yeah, exactly. And through Efterklang, I’ve actually grown more interested in collaboration. I’ve done everything by myself for so long, and you can kind of get in your own head, and it’s not as fun. I’ve really been enjoying having people to bounce off of and work with.
KK: Is there anyone else you would really want to collaborate with?
DJ: There’s plenty of bands I think are rad. Deerhunter…I love what Brandon Cox does. There’s a German band – this would never happen – but there’s a German band called Einstürzende Neubauten that I’m obsessed with. They’ve been around for like, 30 years, but I would love to do something with them. Scott Walker is somebody I’d love to work with somehow. They’re all like, it would never happen, but just people I love (laughs).
KK: And you recorded your new record with Sigur Rós’ string section.
DJ: Yeah, with amiina. They’re friends with Efterklang, so that’s kind of how that happened. But yeah, we got to go over to Iceland and track with them. It was really amazing. I was a big Sigur Rós fan growing up, and still am, but especially younger. We got to record in Sigur Rós’ studio where they made some of their albums, and you’re just sitting there recording and you’re like, that’s the Sigur Rós string sound! You hear it, and it’s so unique to their playing and their instruments, and it was pretty surreal in a lot of ways to be able to work with them.
KK: And then you kind of have to simplify that for the tour.
DJ: Definitely, yeah.
KK: Too bad they can’t come with you!
DJ: Yeah! That would be amazing. But yeah, I was really ambitious, and we used all these crazy instruments and stuff that, it would take an orchestra to do it all without any other help to do it all live. So we kind of have to improvise and re-arrange stuff, and re-assign different stuff for different instruments.
KK: What was the tracking like with that?
DJ: It took place over a couple of years, so it was really stop-start. I did stuff in Nashville, I did stuff on the road, I did stuff in Copenhagen, Reykjavík, Berlin, and just pieced it together. By the end of it, every song had over a hundred tracks. It was this massive, massive ambitious project.
KK: So did everyone record separately and you had to piece it all together?
DJ: Yeah, it was different. I just kind of had the sessions with me, and depending on where I was and who I was with, I would track with them. I would send stuff to friends in Denmark and they would track on it too. It was kind of piece-mealed together from all these different sources.
KK: Do you really identify with Nordic sensibilities, and the landscape, and the whole culture?
DJ: I do. I think if I could, I would move to Copenhagen. I absolutely love Scandinavian culture, and the music scene. They’re just so much more supportive of the arts there, and it just seems like a healthier atmosphere and environment to live in.
KK: It’s obviously really influenced your sound.
DJ: Yeah, definitely. I grew up listening to a lot of Icelandic and Scandinavian music, so it makes sense that I would enjoy being over there.
KK: Was Sigur Rós one of your biggest inspirations growing up?
DJ: They were definitely – especially the first two records were really important for me. One of those records, I remember reading an interview and someone was talking about them, and going straight to the record store and buying it, and just having my mind blown. I think a lot of people did when it first came out. Especially when you’re in high school, you have those moments when your mind is expanded, and as you get older they get fewer and farther between, but you’re like, oh my gosh, there’s a whole other world of music that you didn’t even know existed, and a whole other way to present it.
KK: What, for you, makes a good song?
DJ: That’s a tough question. I don’t know if I can put my finger on it; I just know that when I have a certain feeling or reaction I get to something, it’s more instinctual or in my gut or heart that I really connect with it. It’s different – I listen to all kinds of music and all sorts of things, and it’s not like I have a set style I like or set song style I like. I think it’s just a gut reaction to something that I connect with. I’ll listen to everything from pop radio to avant-garde classical music and find something in all of it.
KK: Is there anything that you hope people take form your music?
DJ: I put a lot of hard work into it, and I would hope that it would – I don’t know, it’s tricky, because there’s so much left to interpretation and how people want to perceive it, but I hope they walk away with some sense of redemption, of honesty of where the world’s at, our capabilities as humans, both for the good and the bad. I was trying to explore all those sorts of things thematically. I hope at the end it’s a hopeful record and people enjoy listening to it.
KK: That’s great. So do you have any words of wisdom for other bands?
DJ: I don’t know if I’m in a position to say anything (laughs). I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is just to try stuff. So many of the opportunities I’ve had have been the result of me of taking a risk and going out on a limb and emailing somebody I don’t know or somebody I respect, and a lot of times no one responds, but then the right people do. Efterklang, for instance, has opened up all these amazing experiences I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and that just started with a random email. I think it’s just being willing to take risks, and only doing it if it’s something you have to do. I think if your motives are wrong then it can make for complicated, bad art in a lot of ways.
KK: And so you’re in the middle of a tour right now.
DJ: Yeah, the record just came out Tuesday, so we’re just touring around the release, and then I’m opening for a band called Boxer Rebellion in the fall.
KK: And then, what’s next for you?
DJ: I don’t know; I’m sure something will happen between now and then. I wanna keep touring, and I should probably start writing again. I haven’t written anything in like a year and a half, so probably should get back into that, and I’m producing some friends back home in Nashville, and various projects. So I’m sure I’ll be busy.
Canon Blue is indeed touring through November, and you can check out all the dates on the website. The new record, Rumspringa, came out as mentioned, on Temporary Residence, and was also just released on Efterklang’s label Rumraket. Check out a show to feel the sense of immediacy with the simplified but still intense arrangement, and grab the record to let the full orchestra reverberations continue to keep it all aliv
