The tumultuous past two years were set to either make or break artists on the rise, and for U.S. producer, Daniel Allan, the ever-changing musical and artistic landscape was exactly what he needed to thrive. Everything that Daniel Allan has achieved thus far in his career has been defined by an obsession with music production and one of the most ferociously dedicated work ethics you will ever come across, and it is clearly paying off. After creating waves with his Overstimulated EP last year, Daniel has been busy diving into the NFT world, becoming a celebrated Web3 pioneer when he took an innovative route to funding his latest release. Now, he is ramping up to release his next EP, Glass House, which just continues to take things to the next level for him.
Today, Daniel Allan has returned with his dynamic, electronic-meets-R&B track, “Chasing Paradise” with Slenderbodies. With each track on the upcoming EP featuring a different artist, “Chasing Paradise” is a stunning look inside the genre-bending release. We caught up with Daniel Allan to talk about the upcoming EP, new single, and plans for the rest of 2022 – read more and listen to “Chasing Paradise” now below!
Prelude Press: You’ve been busy this past year with the release of your Overstimulated EP, near-constant online events and your work in the NFT landscape. What has been the highlight of your year so far?
Daniel Allan: It’s definitely been the craziest but most rewarding year of my life. So many cool things have happened but I’d say the highlights have been moving into a new house, doing a writing camp in Malibu with all my best friends, and doing my first tour run in New York.
Now, you’re gearing up to release your new EP, Glass House! If you had to choose just one thing, what are you the most proud of on the upcoming EP?
Definitely a bit of a corny answer but I’m most proud of the diversity in the music. Most everyone that I show the project to each have different songs as their favorites which is really cool – I feel like the project definitely appeals to a broad range of genres and musical tastes all while somewhat living in my world.
The songs on Glass House feature collaborations with Slenderbodies, Reo Cragun, DLG and Deegan. How did these partnerships come about?
One of the coolest things since I moved to LA a few years ago has been the relationships the move brought me. Every artists that worked on the project is someone I’m close to in my personal life. Collaborating with friends makes the music-making process that much more fun and I’m stoked I could get so many of the homies on this one!
What do you feel the other artists were able to bring to these songs? Did you learn anything from each other?
It is so cool to see other people’s musical process. Everyone’s approach is so wildly different, so I think working with other people is a great way to fast track learning. I came up watching Youtube videos every day almost religiously to try to weed out a 10-15 second nugget of information: when you get to work with such a talented bunch every minute is a learning experience.
You also just released “Chasing Paradise” with Slenderbodies! Can you tell us about the track? What goals did you have in mind when you began working on it?
This track has such a funny story. During the writing camp in Malibu, we were working on music day in and day out. At one point all of us cruised to the beach and the Slenderbodies guys brought a guitar to kinda mess around with. My friend Eldar found an empty jug of water and put some sand into it, and before we knew it we had all gathered some weird materials we found along the shore and started improvising some chords and music around it. We actually caught on to a cool chord progression and the voice memo went from being a joke to something we had to get down in Ableton as fast as possible. If you listen closely to the beginning of the song, you can hear a snippet of that OG voice memo.
What was the most exciting or rewarding part of working on the EP?
The most rewarding part was finishing it for sure. I left Malibu with 64 project files and had no idea what kind of project I was about to work on. There were easily 10 different versions of the project – all at various lengths – but curating it down to the best 4 and actually being strict about finishing those has me so pumped with the final result.
Over the past couple of years with both COVID and the explosion of NFTs, many artists have taken to the online space to create and connect with fans. What has that experience been like for you? How do you feel it has helped you to grow as an artist?
It has absolutely changed my life. Getting involved in NFTs and just having more of a presence online has really helped me navigate a career in music and in a lot of ways has given me the autonomy to take my career into my own hands. I definitely feel free when I’m creating now, which is a feeling I didn’t have when I was making songs to get record deals to pay my rent.
Do you have any other big goals or plans for the rest of 2022?
I’m honestly sitting on so much music that I just wanna keep dropping it like a madman. I’m trying to do a short mixtape at the end of the year, and it might even feature some remixes/flips to this EP on it.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you guys for having me!! It means a lot to be able to chat about the music so I really appreciate you letting me use your platform 🙂
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