Our Song of the Day ‘In My Direction’, is taken from the forthcoming single from Astronauts, aka London-based musician Dan Carney (formerly of critically-acclaimed East London alt-folkers Dark Captain). The track featured on the debut album ‘Hollow Ponds’, a stand-out track marked by looping percussion overlaid with flowing acoustic guitar to give it an almost hypnotic quality alongside a feeling of constant relentless movement. That trance like rhythm wasn’t lost on Armenia-based production company Manana Films who had approached Dan about doing a collaboration.
The results are both original and slightly bizarre thanks to the part played by Armenian actor Andranik Lavchyan who pulls off a face you can’t help but do a double-take on as he makes his way though the capital Yerevan attracting curious gazes from passers-by some of whom seem unaware they are on camera.
‘In My Direction’ is backed with a remix of the ‘Hollow Ponds’ track ‘Everything’s A System, Everything’s A Sign’ from Kieran Mahon, a minimal/ambient composer and long-time friend of Dan’s, who creeps up silently behind the original and injects it with a swirling, insistent menace.
The single comes hot on the heels of a great 2014 for Dan, with debut single ‘Skydive’ hitting the Hype Machine Top 3, racking up 150,000 Soundcloud plays in a week, and providing an attentive platform for the arrival of the well-received debut album ‘Hollow Ponds’, and the recent mini-collection of extras, the ‘Four Songs’ E.P., which made the UK iTunes homepage in its week of release. The year ended with the song ‘Flame Exchange’ being used to soundtrack popular French TV programme ‘Rendez-Vous En Terre Inconnue’, to an estimated audience of six million.
Dan is currently working hard on the next Astronauts album, and preparing for shows in Italy and Luxembourg in early 2015.