Swallow Fear

Daniel McClelland's new EP Swallow Fear is out now on all major streaming and download platforms. The record asks the listener to take a deep breath and start conquering their anxieties. In a mere 17 minutes, McClelland takes on: perfectionism; an aversion to happiness; bigotry; parenthood; and the impact of emigration on families. As you may have guessed, this is no ordinary pop record.

In fact, it’s hard to classify it as a singular type of ‘pop’ at all. ​Swallow Fear​ sees McClelland fuse together a myriad of genres. In particular, he embraced hip hop, grunge, 90s dance, 60s symphonic pop, and glam rock. Each track's a “pocket symphony”, inspired by the likes of Brian Wilson, early-era George Harrison and Beck. McClelland's music is bombastic and major-key. It embraces exuberance. It's at once retro and fresh. ​Swallow Fear​ flies in the face of the norms of today's pop scene.

The record's rich Beach Boys influenced harmonies were all self-recorded, layered together over dozens of hours of self-performed overdubs. ​Swallow Fear ​ stretches the definition of “one-man band” to its extremes. McClelland wrote, recorded, engineered and produced every note in every boisterous track, all at home, in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

Check out Swallow Fear now wherever music is played.

Directed by Rajeev Mishra. 'Blotted Out The Background' is also available on all major streaming services: - Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/35uUZhTPSGAI2ZkiXr2BcN - iTunes: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/nz/album/id1486127849?at=1l3v9Tx&app=itunes - Apple Music: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/nz/album/id1486127849?at=10lrHH&app=music - Bandcamp: https://danielmcclelland.bandcamp.com/track/blotted-out-the-background - Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/daniel-mcclelland/blotted_out_the_background/ 'Blotted Out The Background' stars Daniel McClelland as 12 versions of himself.

Blotted out the background

Blotted Out The Background is the first single from Daniel’s new EP Swallow Fear. You can stream it everywhere music can be streamed, choose your favourite here. There’s also a music video on YouTube, which is the definitive way to experience the song. The song was produced and performed entirely by McClelland, playing and singing all the parts. The video was produced by McClelland and Rajeev Mishra, who directed too. The video was shot in and around Wellington over several weekends in the Winter of 2019. It was released to acclaim from Happy Mag, who said it continues Daniel’s “penchant for crafting idiosyncratic and endlessly original gems of sound”.

Anxious Heart

Daniel McClelland's debut album Anxious Heart is available for streaming on multiple services; Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and iTunes, Amazon Digital Music, Bandcamp and many more. It's available to buy physically from Bandcamp. You can stream Anxious Heart in the embedded Spotify player below:

Canary In This Mine

First track from the album Anxious Heart, available from August 6th, 2017

Jack Of No Trades

Released as part of 31 Days In Wellington's album, supporting local charity Kaibosh.

Hand In My Pocket

Released as part of ChrisRobTim's Alanis Morissette covers album: JLP20