Ahead of his UK tour to promote his sixth studio album ‘The Glass Age’ (out on July 22nd), we chatted to Dan Whitehouse about the inspiration behind the new record, hurdles encountered whilst working remotely, writing retreats with Chris Difford and some information on the special guests that will be joining him on the road.
‘The Glass Age’ is your sixth studio album to date. Is there a theme, and where did your inspiration came from for this?
The Glass Age is here!
We’re living in the age of glass and allow me to tell you why
A term first coined by Chris Difford during an online song writing workshop. TGA is a reference to the way that we’ve adopted devices as part of the family and communicate now via screens (glass).
In this record I examine the thin layer between digital and emotional life.
I am talking about how our feelings for each other haven’t changed but the way we communicate has. Communication exclusively via a screen you can’t hug someone and body language is altered. I’ve noticed this can be a catalyst for more direct proclamations of love and other positive feelings. I embrace it, I have grown to like it.
You co-wrote the album with Swedish composer/producer Gustaf Ljunggren - how did this collaboration come about?
I had long admired Gustaf’s work with Boo Hewerdine, and in 2020 Tom Rose at Reveal Records invited Gustaf to remix a song from my last album ‘Tomorrow’ – Gustaf did an inspiring re imagination of the song and I recorded a sunrise video to this from my apartment balcony in Japan – his use of the OP-1 synth on this felt so right with my words and melody, something clicked, I didn’t edit or alter anything he had added to the song, it felt like things just sat right, fell into place almost and I felt compelled to venture further with my new partner
Did you come across any barriers virtually (via the internet) rather than face to face environment? Any advantages?
Yeah, first time we tried it we failed. This record is the second attempt Gustaf and I had at making a record. We did another together remotely in 2020 where (on reflection) I feel we were testing the water, and you might say a little non-committal. We were adapting and experimenting to the new working environment of Zoom and sharing audio files behind the glass, but I was still kinda stuck in my previous record headspace of guitar lead pieces and inviting Gustaf merely to add overdubs. Also the words I was writing were too negative, depressive stuff and I didn’t feel compelled to share that – I thought to myself “this is not what the world needs to here right now!” I felt my perspective shift, as I was looking at the world from space, I could see the bigger picture all of a sudden and wanted to comment from that seat. As an experiment I asked Gustaf to completely remove the acoustic guitar, and then everything just fell into place. Collaboration online is different – you are not playing in the same room and responding to one another in the moment, it’s more of a baton passing, call and response type of collab… and it worked well to signpost Gustaf with a guitar part but then have him discard it completely.
The songs on the album were nearly all written using an acoustic guitar and then played and programmed on a synthesiser (Teenage Engineering OPI-1 to be precise for any tech-heads out there), were there any issues when this was done in trying to obtain the right sound?
No issues – once we fully embraced working in this way. The issue we had was early when we were a little non-committal and dabbling with it as I mention above
Can I ask why you chose this synthesizer?
This synthesizer helps you to make emotionally resonant digital music before – it is a truly modern folk instrument
I used to think we needed acoustic instruments played together to created that emotional intensity – but Gustaf’s use of the OP-1 on this record has enlightened me – welcome to The Glass Age !
It has a built in sampler and it’s really user-friendly – instant and spontaneous – the design of it with the sampler encourages live human performances as opposed to working on the grid and quantizing stuff. It is a very responsive tool, I’ve used it also within band jam sessions as an extra musician, sampling bits of performances and then manipulating the sounds and feeding them back into the mix – can be a great way of raising the heat within a track, heightening emotions
I read on your press release that a track called ‘New Love’ was written by the band (Beth Aggett, Tom Milner, Mimi Jasson, yourself & Alex Lowe) during an online writing retreat with Chris Difford during the summer of 2020. What happens on a writing retreat (apart from writing of course!) I’m interested in how ideas form and how you convert these ideas into sound and music.
Help Musicians UK Charity funded part of the making of this album and also ran these amazing songwriting workshops online during the pandemic – lead by Chris Difford. Chris would provide song briefs, tell us stories, encourage free writing and pair writers up with one another in break out rooms on zoom. He is a very spiritual man and has a natural, great way of putting you at ease and creating a safe space to explore creatively. It’s quite remarkable what happened during those online sessions – I was up in the dead of the night in Japan as I was land locked there due to my ear injury – unable to fly home and with no shows to return for anyway! The song you mention (NEW LOVE) was not written with a band as such, in fact we had never met in person! Chris just put the 4 of us together in a break out room, we had an open conversation, exchanged ideas and the song was born. I did a rough demo and then Beth Aggett added her beautiful voice and wrote those amazing choral parts, and it felt like we had something special, a true collab.
The cover art for the album is striking with a huge rainbow standing over what seems to be a mass of unhappy looking computer screens and bodies floating underneath a layer of ice?, I’m certain that I have mis-interpreted this altogether, maybe you can explain what it means (if indeed there is a meaning?)
Martin D Hyde is a wonderfully talented artist and abstract painter based in the Peak District
He explained to me that he painted to the music, and each of the images you describe represents a different song on the record. For example the bodies floating underneath the layer of ice are inspired by ‘Thin Blue Line’ – a song I wrote after reading an article about the long history of death during expeditions to Antarctica – there is a thin blue line that appears in the ice that marks a void below – but if you are travelling too fast it’s easy to miss it – this resonated with me in, within my own journey in life – sometimes we are moving too fast to see or feel the warning signs.
The Rainbow is illustrating the song ‘Rainbows Never End,’ which I wrote for my son, who lives in Japan. It is a song about our deep bond and connection strong enough to overcome all barriers of borders, land and sea.
On your press release, it says that “Dan Whitehouse continues to develop and evolve his offering whilst showing how he’s carefully nurtured his creativity during an imposed stay in Japan from January 2020 to June 2021”. Please tell me more about the stay in Japan
Upon Arrival in Jan 2020 I had a relatively minor accident - but it rendered me deaf in my left ear for a short time, and crucially – un fit to fly – I was playing with my son when he accidentally hit my left ear with a cupped hand, I was on the floor and we just kinda got caught out at the wrong (or right) angle and he perforated my ear drum in such a dramatic way that I lost hearing and the doctors booked me in for surgery to do a skin graft to fix it up. I waited six months for the surgery but once I was in the theatre thankfully the recovery process had begun to kick in and they decided it best to let the ear heal naturally – this meant another year in Japan.
My hearing has returned now and I view the ‘accident’ as a very welcome spiritual intervention as it granted me more time in Japan with my son and we bonded in ways we may not have had the opportunity to otherwise.
It was an interesting experience, being in a foreign land and dealing with the cultural differences whilst not being able to work – to write and perform music – I explored a lot of poetry and embraced Yoga, and a series of creative, daily practices. Overall the experience focused my mind and helped me to hone in what I really want to do with the time I have on this earth.
In Japan there is this word “ukeireru” which doesn't have a direct translation to English but kind of means ‘ acceptance’ but it definitely doesn’t mean compromise. It can help you to feel grounded, aware, and potentially overcome any perceived hurdles or challenges in your way – by looking around, or looking inward and noticing beauty in everyday life, often the tiniest of things.
Your previous work has picked up some great comments from the likes of Chris Difford and BBC Radio 6 Music, how do you feel reading comments like these?
It feels good to have their support. When my songs connect with people it sort of explains why they felt so urgent at the time of writing.
You’re hitting the roads of the UK in July for an 8 date tour taking in a variety of places including Totnes, Liskeard, Guildford, Leicester, Birmingham and London, where are you most excited about playing and why?
Oh come on man don’t make me pick! Every show is gonna be different and unique in its own special way. One of them will be the best. You’ll have to come to every one to find out which!
You’re bringing some special guests to some of the shows including Lily, Eliza Marshall, Alan Fish and Caitlin LM, tell me how you chose these people to join you on some of the tour dates?
They are all songwriters and musicians whose music I admire and have played on my radio show on Brum Radio ‘ The Glass Age’.
At these shows I’ll be playing The Glass Age in it’s entirety, in addition to select cuts from other albums, and exploring all of the sonic layers within the record. I will create space in the set for stripped back, ‘bare bones’ performances of my work – just voice and guitar. Leonard Cohen once said every performance is an opportunity, and opportunity for the song to breathe, and this sits well with me. I look forward to putting my heart into the delivery of the songs, sharing the songs with the audience and allowing them to hold us in that space together, if only for the night.
Caitlin LM has also collaborated with me, contributing vocals to my last record and playing keys and sax in the live band set up. I’m looking forward to collaborating with these folks live at the shows –new magic is out there for us to tap into together.
The album is released on 22nd July and by the looks of your tour schedule, you’re playing in London on that date, are you planning any special surprises for the show?
I’ll be joined by an innovative percussionist in London and that is the one where I’ll be joined by Eliza Marshall and we have a rabbit up our sleeve that will be revealed on the night!
I see that you’re planning on releasing a further album on September 30th titled ‘Voices From the Cones’, I’d like to hear a bit more about this.
In 2019 I was commissioned to write a song cycle on the long history and surrounding community of glass making in Stourbridge.
Funded by National Heritage Lottery, the project became Voices From The Cones theatre show, written and narrated by storyteller John Edgar
Thanks to support from Arts Council England we have recorded an album of the songs.
Once home to the glass greats, Webb Corbett and Royal Doulton, the site was purchased, by Ruskin Mill Land Trust, in 2001 with the objective of keeping the indigenous trade of the area alive, and to create a vibrant, craft-based environment for the transformation of the lives of the students of Glasshouse College.
It is on this site that these interviews were conducted and the songs inspired their stories were performed for the first time back in 2019, then during the lockdown I recorded the album, and we are heading back to the site for a special live show on August 24th 2022 – a performance as part of the International Festival of Glass.
Is there a reason for releasing two albums in such close proximity?
2022 is the international year of glass, so let’s do this, step into the glass age with me!
Music is an amazing thing, it can make you smile, laugh, cry and dance, what do you hope people will take away from The Glass Age?
You are allowed to do nothing.
To just breathe.
Lastly, please impart some words of wisdom for any budding musicians trying to get a foothold on the ladder, where should they start and any particular pitfalls to watch out for?
Given the opportunity I would talk to them about the stream of inspiration and ideas that is ever flowing. I would explain how they already have all the ideas within them.
Our biggest challenge is often simply sitting still long enough to tap into this stream, and find a way to drink from it, and record the ideas.
I might suggest trying a free writing task such as ‘Morning Pages’ to help with this where every morning, when you are still in your dream like state – as soon as you wake up – you write out 3 pages of text.
This could be viewed as a cleansing process. Before we are drawn into the messages and obligations of our daily lives, we grant freedom to our inner artistic voice, ask ourselves what we are feeling and what we want to say.
Give it a try; I think you’ll be surprised to read what comes back, the voice from behind the glass…
“Music allows people to become themselves.....We hold each other in the communal cradle of our actions our words and most significantly in my opinion…our expression ”
We’d like to thank Dan for sparing his time to chat to us and we wish him every success with the new album, tour and future endeavours.
Dan Whitehouse’s sixth studio album ‘The Glass Age’ is available to pre-order now on CD and download and will be released on clear blue vinyl from December 2022 - ONLINE STORE
Details of Dan’s forthcoming UK tour can be found below.- Tickets available HERE
