Discover: Declan McKenna (New Series!)
I am very excited to be starting on a brand new series here on my blog where maybe every other month I'll dive into an artist's discography and listen to what they have to offer, then tell you all about it. I'll go through their background, career and highlight songs or albums they might have, then give a sort of conclusion on my opinion. These posts don't necessarily have to be positive, I'm sure it could be quite fun to tear through someone, but if you want to request an artist for me to do put it in the comments and I'll try to get round to it. Enough is enough, let's get into it!
So, for my first artist I've chosen Declan McKenna, a young singer-songwriter from England. Declan was born in Enfield in Greater London on 24th December 1998 and he grew up in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire and recorded loads of music in his teenage years he's described as "not very good", all of which is currently private. He has officially released two EPs and one studio album and is currently working on new music.
He's always had an interest in social, global and political issues and his lyrics definitely reflect that, particularly on his debut and breakout single "Brazil", a song highlighting all that's wrong with FIFA and Brazil being awarded with the World Cup without addressing or even acknowledging the poverty and crisis the country was in. It was in December 2014 that he first released the song on his YouTube channel and it steady accumulated more and more views, particularly after he won the Glastonbury Emerging Talent contest in 2015 and played for the first time at that festival. He was just 15 when it was released.
McKenna went on to release several more singles, all praised as socially aware and very meaningful and impressive for such a young artist. He extensively toured throughout 2015 and some of 2016, in the latter year working out of the public eye on his debut album. He was signed to Colombia records at this point, eventually deciding on them after a flood of different deals being presented to him by all different companies all the while "Brazil" rose higher and higher in popularity.
In 2017 he released his much-anticipated debut album "What Do You Think About The Car" on 21st July which even further expanded his fanbase as the attention turned on him once again. The album received generally favourable reviews and achieved reasonable mainstream success, peaking at no. 11 in the UK. Declan played many festivals and embarked on another tour, spending much of 2018 on the road as he wrote and recorded material for his second album and now here we are awaiting a lead single or news about the album's hopefully imminent release.
Declan took a while to find his sound, it's something that, listening to his album, you can tell as there is a clear difference between many of the songs. Listen to the 90s-sounding indie rock of the big single "Brazil" and compare it to the rough synthpop on "Paracetamol", his emotional song about the struggles of transgender teenagers. All of his music fits under the banner of indie rock but there are clear distinctions to be made and sometimes humongous differences in the sounds. I think that's perfectly okay though, as he was only 18 at the time of its release and still very much musically shaped by his influences; that is not a criticism as he definitely knows his way behind a great melody and it's his writing that people gravitate towards in his music, both the lyrics and sounds.
Whilst many artists in his vein are writing some meaningful, conscious songs I find that Declan is the one I find the most interesting in his alternative singer-songwriter direction and ability to go to places not many other people are willing to put in a song, certainly not in the mainstream. Take Sam Fender, someone making rather similar music to McKenna with the same drive to talk about important subjects and matters. For Fender, I commend his musical talent and amazing melodies but his lyrics, although deep, are oversimplified on some occasions and too repetitive, particularly on his particularly good "Dead Boys". Admittedly, Declan suffers the same thing on a song like "Isombard" but almost every other time he provides truly interesting lyrics with clever delivery that really emphasises the importance of the words and matters behind them rather than just highlight the melody. This makes him stand out and sit above his peers, above Sam Fender, Tom Grennan, Stereo Honey and Saint Raymond. The artists that Declan McKenna seems to be the most influenced by are Sufjan Stevens and MacDemarco, both in the same vein of music as him and both known for their meaningful, moving lyrics.
I enjoy the majority of Declan's album, particularly the juxtaposition between the softer guitar tones with the harsher synths and Declan's often strained voice; Declan's voice being something I enjoy for its display of bare emotions, fitting his truthful and aware lyrics just right by sounding earnest and authentic, never bored or plastic like many new pop artists are. The highlights from the album are those that combine all these factors successfully and provide the most important sounding songs, like the very raw "Paracetamol" and the overlooked "I Am Everyone Else", but also the newer songs that go in a smoother and more upbeat direction like "Humongous", "Why Do You Feel So Down" and "Make Me Your Queen", all of them having massive, poppy choruses but darker subtexts and interesting messages. I suspect that this is the direction that Declan will take with his upcoming sophomore release.
Inevitably not everything is a complete success with a couple of songs missing the mark for me, including the early single "Bethlehem" which has one of the most interesting messages but is quite boring and forgettable musically, and also the catchy but much less deep "Mind", a poppy jam that just doesn't sound very good, perhaps a problem with the mixing and production as it seems overcrowded and lacks the fantastic and intricate detail that you get on "Brazil". A bit of a devisive song would be the closer "Listen To Your Friends", the most obviously pretentious cut off the album and one that for some lacks the same charm of earlier singles. For me I can appreciate what Declan is doing and I almost enjoy it, I almost enjoy it a lot it's just that the melodies and instrumentation are not nearly as complex, in fact I find them quite generic and too familiar. It's clear he was going for something like The 1975's "Loving Someone", but unfortunately that level of importance was not achieved and it's the instrumentals to blame for that.
Overall I do enjoy Declan's music, I'd count myself as a fan and definitely someone interested and anticipating his return. Hopefully in the next fews months we'll hear from him again but while we wait he has a really good album to enjoy, perhaps not a great one but an album that has some great songs. I'd highly recommend his music, especially if you're into indie, singer-songwriter, folk or just new music. He has a lot of potential and I'd be especially interested in him going in a more psychedelic and synthy direction so long as he never leaves behind those phenomenal guitar melodies.
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| Credit: IMDb |
He's always had an interest in social, global and political issues and his lyrics definitely reflect that, particularly on his debut and breakout single "Brazil", a song highlighting all that's wrong with FIFA and Brazil being awarded with the World Cup without addressing or even acknowledging the poverty and crisis the country was in. It was in December 2014 that he first released the song on his YouTube channel and it steady accumulated more and more views, particularly after he won the Glastonbury Emerging Talent contest in 2015 and played for the first time at that festival. He was just 15 when it was released.
McKenna went on to release several more singles, all praised as socially aware and very meaningful and impressive for such a young artist. He extensively toured throughout 2015 and some of 2016, in the latter year working out of the public eye on his debut album. He was signed to Colombia records at this point, eventually deciding on them after a flood of different deals being presented to him by all different companies all the while "Brazil" rose higher and higher in popularity.
In 2017 he released his much-anticipated debut album "What Do You Think About The Car" on 21st July which even further expanded his fanbase as the attention turned on him once again. The album received generally favourable reviews and achieved reasonable mainstream success, peaking at no. 11 in the UK. Declan played many festivals and embarked on another tour, spending much of 2018 on the road as he wrote and recorded material for his second album and now here we are awaiting a lead single or news about the album's hopefully imminent release.
Declan took a while to find his sound, it's something that, listening to his album, you can tell as there is a clear difference between many of the songs. Listen to the 90s-sounding indie rock of the big single "Brazil" and compare it to the rough synthpop on "Paracetamol", his emotional song about the struggles of transgender teenagers. All of his music fits under the banner of indie rock but there are clear distinctions to be made and sometimes humongous differences in the sounds. I think that's perfectly okay though, as he was only 18 at the time of its release and still very much musically shaped by his influences; that is not a criticism as he definitely knows his way behind a great melody and it's his writing that people gravitate towards in his music, both the lyrics and sounds.
Whilst many artists in his vein are writing some meaningful, conscious songs I find that Declan is the one I find the most interesting in his alternative singer-songwriter direction and ability to go to places not many other people are willing to put in a song, certainly not in the mainstream. Take Sam Fender, someone making rather similar music to McKenna with the same drive to talk about important subjects and matters. For Fender, I commend his musical talent and amazing melodies but his lyrics, although deep, are oversimplified on some occasions and too repetitive, particularly on his particularly good "Dead Boys". Admittedly, Declan suffers the same thing on a song like "Isombard" but almost every other time he provides truly interesting lyrics with clever delivery that really emphasises the importance of the words and matters behind them rather than just highlight the melody. This makes him stand out and sit above his peers, above Sam Fender, Tom Grennan, Stereo Honey and Saint Raymond. The artists that Declan McKenna seems to be the most influenced by are Sufjan Stevens and MacDemarco, both in the same vein of music as him and both known for their meaningful, moving lyrics.
I enjoy the majority of Declan's album, particularly the juxtaposition between the softer guitar tones with the harsher synths and Declan's often strained voice; Declan's voice being something I enjoy for its display of bare emotions, fitting his truthful and aware lyrics just right by sounding earnest and authentic, never bored or plastic like many new pop artists are. The highlights from the album are those that combine all these factors successfully and provide the most important sounding songs, like the very raw "Paracetamol" and the overlooked "I Am Everyone Else", but also the newer songs that go in a smoother and more upbeat direction like "Humongous", "Why Do You Feel So Down" and "Make Me Your Queen", all of them having massive, poppy choruses but darker subtexts and interesting messages. I suspect that this is the direction that Declan will take with his upcoming sophomore release.
Inevitably not everything is a complete success with a couple of songs missing the mark for me, including the early single "Bethlehem" which has one of the most interesting messages but is quite boring and forgettable musically, and also the catchy but much less deep "Mind", a poppy jam that just doesn't sound very good, perhaps a problem with the mixing and production as it seems overcrowded and lacks the fantastic and intricate detail that you get on "Brazil". A bit of a devisive song would be the closer "Listen To Your Friends", the most obviously pretentious cut off the album and one that for some lacks the same charm of earlier singles. For me I can appreciate what Declan is doing and I almost enjoy it, I almost enjoy it a lot it's just that the melodies and instrumentation are not nearly as complex, in fact I find them quite generic and too familiar. It's clear he was going for something like The 1975's "Loving Someone", but unfortunately that level of importance was not achieved and it's the instrumentals to blame for that.
Overall I do enjoy Declan's music, I'd count myself as a fan and definitely someone interested and anticipating his return. Hopefully in the next fews months we'll hear from him again but while we wait he has a really good album to enjoy, perhaps not a great one but an album that has some great songs. I'd highly recommend his music, especially if you're into indie, singer-songwriter, folk or just new music. He has a lot of potential and I'd be especially interested in him going in a more psychedelic and synthy direction so long as he never leaves behind those phenomenal guitar melodies.
Favourites from Declan McKenna:
Humomgous
Paracetamol
Why Do You Feel So Down
Brazil
Make Me Your Queen
I Am Everyone Else
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