Danny Golden Releases New Single 'Alien'

On April 23rd, Austin-based musician Danny Golden will release his new EP Changes, the followup to Golden's 2018 full-length Old Love. Today, Golden released the video for the EP's second single "Alien." MXDWN praised the song, saying "while the lead single from Changes, 'I Can't Change,' blended a Neil Young-esque chord progression and song structure with shoegaze-style dynamics, 'Alien' takes a more straightforward approach, allowing Golden's storytelling to take the lead. The guitars have a wistful, compressed quality that's reminiscent of '80s heartland rock."

"Alien" follows the EP's first single "I Can't Change" - Under The Radar acclaimed the song's "inviting melodies and plainspoken lyrical approach" along with its "towering layers of shoegaze guitars and crashing percussion."

"'Alien' was dropped into my head by some extraterrestrial intelligence," Golden says. "I think creativity comes from some external mystical source, artists simply figure out how to tune our radios to the frequency and transmit the messages. I was flying back to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving in that groggy twilight feeling of an airplane nap, 20,000 feet above the earth at 11pm after an extended layover."

Golden woke from a dream on the plane with the "Alien" chorus virtually complete playing in his head. "I liked the feeling of it, so I threw a jacket over my head, opened up my voice memos and sang it to my phone," Golden says. "I still have the recording, you can hear the flight attendant announcing our descent in the background. The chorus came to me complete and the rest of the song was figured out from there. It's a song about the power of love to give your alienated existence meaning. Plus a little bit of an indulgence in my fascination with UFOs and life elsewhere in the universe."

The core backing band on Changes features drummer Jeff Olson (White Denim, Balmorhea), guitarist Ben Brown (PR Newman), bassist Sam Pankey (Balmorhea, Mother Falcon), backing vocalist Mary Bryce (Smiile), and keyboardist Spencer Garland (Black Pumas, Matthew Logan Vasquez). Other collaborators include David Ramirez (who produced the EP song "L.A. County"), and John Michael Landon (who produced "I Can't Change" and "Alien").

Danny Golden's four-song EP Changes is out April 23rd.

Watch the video for "Alien" here:

Photo Credit: Phillip Harder

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