Danyew

My heart just about stops whenever a song actually transports me somewhere. I’m not talking about that cool new pop ditty that makes me want to dance and I’m not talking about the latest love song that makes me want to hold my wife tight and get all googley-eyed on her. Those are fine and well, but I’m talking about those tracks that go beyond emotions and actually make you see something new, something not of this world, something truly ethereal. This almost never happens to me, although I feel like it should. But new artist Danyew has done this with his eponymous debut EP, and I am floored by this.

The six songs vary in terms of style, structure and effect. Opener “The Closer We Are” is the most epic track of the group, and more than the others this is the song that arrests me. With its driving rock/electronica sound, the vocals that soar skyward…it’s like you’re blasting off into space and can see God coming closer with each passing moment. It’s a rush and it is beautiful. And while the MuteMath-ish “Close Your Eyes” has a spacey sound and feel to it, and though the languid track tells you to close your eyes, it’s as though by doing so you can see the vastness of space and all that God has created. It’s not so much a trick as it is an encouragement look at this unconventional universe in an unconventional way.

Phil Danyew proves from the start that he is a considerable talent. Vocally he echoes the range of Sanctus Real’s Matt Hammitt, though Danyew himself is more melodic and less gravelly. Lyrically, the songs are at once conversational and introspective, focusing on everything from the neverending desire to be closer to God to His unfailing love for each of us. This latter point is beautifully depicted in the album’s mid-tempo closer, “Turnstile,” which sounds like a playful, dreamy love song from God to each and every listener. I give musicians the benefit of the doubt that they can conjure up emotions in their listeners without really trying—that doesn’t take as much as talent; painting pictures you’ve never seen before, taking you to new worlds…now that’s something special. That’s what this last track does, and so does the entire EP.

As EPs go, this one shines likes a shooting star, except that it doesn’t die out and disappear from view at the end. This one slows down and speeds up again, moves to the left and then to the right, burns brilliant white and then becomes every other color in the rainbow before repeating the whole process in a completely different order. Danyew’s album is like one gigantic, gorgeous rollercoaster ride throughout the heavens and the edges of everything we can conceive about this life and the one that is to come.

This is the best album of 2009 so far. Do. Not. Miss. This. Record.

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