11 Questions with Danny McGuire

If you could share one thing with an audience before they first tuned into your music, what would you say?

I’d say “thank you, I hope that you are doing great and that my music finds you at a wonderful and peaceful time of your life!”

What’s a non-music thing, a book, a place, a random job, a conversation you overheard, that actually changed how you create music?

I loved the film ‘Drive My Car’ that came out a few years ago. The sense of space, tones and pacing has definitely had an influence on how I create music.

Give us a song origin story. Where did the idea come from, and did you know straight away that it was something, or did it take a while to reveal itself?

Some songs come to you all at once, while others arrive gradually.

‘Friends ’Til the End’ was definitely the latter – it arrived gently and over time, so each part of the song evokes a different feeling and memory for me.

I think time has been an important ingredient for this song although I can be really impatient so might not have realised that until it was finished!

Pick a song that you’ve released that could only have been written at that exact moment in your lives. What was going on, and is there any part of you that wishes you could still be in that moment?

Cheating slightly as it’s unreleased but I have a song coming out a bit down the line called ‘Tomorrow’ that I wrote back in 2017.

I was living in Amsterdam and having a great time surrounded by good friends.

Although all was going well I knew that after 7 years there it was time to move on.

The song captures that strange space between two chapters of life where you’re both excited about the future and nervous about what’s to come.

Tell us about a gig that went somewhere unexpected: a night where the room, the crowd, or just something in the air made it feel like more than a show. What happened?

Lots of gigs that I have played in the past have made me feel free and excited.

I haven’t played live with this latest version of my project but I’m really looking forward to the new experiences that it will bring.

What’s going on in the world right now, nothing to do with music, that’s quietly making its way into what you’re working on?

I recently went to see an exhibition from the late French designer Pauline Deltour in Bordeaux.

She was really prolific across loads of different mediums but there was a common thread between everything she did.

Recognising that in Pauline’s work has encouraged me to push things in different directions in my music that I might not have considered before.

There’s a sound, an instrument, a texture you haven’t used yet, but it’s there in the back of your head. What is it, and what’s it waiting for?

There’s loads but I’m especially interested in dialing into drones and minimalism in a way that I haven’t yet.

Which artist, alive, dead, from any era, would you most want to play your music to?

David Lynch. I think he was one of the best. Strongly recommend listening to the audiobook version of his autobiography ‘Room to Dream’ if you haven’t!

Forget the big moments. If your music was the soundtrack to one small, ordinary moment in someone’s day, what would that moment look like?

The first sip of a strong black coffee in the morning!

What’s next for you? Tell us what you’re working on and if you have anything exciting in the pipeline.

I’m excited to continue releasing music and to start playing some shows later in the year.

Any final words to leave us with?