THE KITE STRING TANGLE | WARP | 01.12.17

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Tangled Up In Blue

The Kite String Tangle’s Danny Harley is no stranger to the highs and lows of a slow and considered creative process. After three years of incubation, in July this year he finally released his debut self titled album. The vocalist/producer/electronic musician extraordinaire, who is also playing a massive run of Australian dates this summer, chatted with us about the challenges of isolation and touring and how they inform his creative process.   

A: After your time in South America you'll embark upon a massive summer tour of Australia which will see you play at the Goods Shed, Hobart. Any time to hang out and enjoy the scenery in Tassie? 

D: Yeah I’m definitely keen to stay on a bit longer in Tassie. I’ve been a few times before and I love it. Wine, cheese, beautiful scenery and excellent people, what more could you want?! 

A: You’ve just played the Aussie BBQ in Sao Paulo Brazil, how does travelling inform your live shows? Do you find it stimulating? Challenging? Both?

D: It’s obviously inspiring to travel from a song-writing point of view but for the live show when traveling I find I often have to make compromises because I can’t take my usual equipment and lighting on the road. In saying that, there’s definitely something special about performing to people from a totally different music culture and in a different language to the audience.

A: When you're on the road do you find inspiration in other people's music or do you use the time to write or enjoy the silence in between gigs?

D: I will listen to a lot of other people’s music mostly. I’ve been listening to a lot of UK house lately. That’s been good. I also try and write on the road when I can but that’s quite difficult given you’re always moving.

A: What was your approach when putting together your debut self titled album? Did you work from an overarching theme or point of reference, or did you let inspiration flow and take you wherever it wanted?

D: Well it ended up being written over quite a long time so the ground rules sort of kept changing. I originally wanted to strip it right back and make the core of every song shine, but gradually throughout the process it became much more production heavy. I generally like to keep the themes pretty open but have a loose idea or concept tying it all together. For this record I was trying to create something a little lighter and more fun than my previous stuff

A: Can you tell us a little about how your collaboration with Dustin Tebbot on 2015 track Illuminate came about? Any other plans for further collaborations?

D: We’d been fans of each other’s work from a distance for quite some time and we eventually ended up catching up and doing a session in my home town Brisbane when he was there touring with missy Higgins and that was the start of it all. In terms of future collabs, I’m definitely working with a lot of people at the moment and will hopefully be releasing a load of exciting stuff throughout 2018, I don’t wanna mention names in case it falls through haha.

A: Who has inspired you to write over the years?

D: Sound and production wise I’m always inspired by textural producers like kllo, John Hopkins, Christopher Port and even Odesza. In terms of songwriting though I always find myself coming back to artists like London Grammar, Bon Iver, James Blake and The National. I love the emotive nature of music and that’s what I like to listen to and try to do with my stuff too.

A: What are you super proud of in your life at the moment?

D: I’m very proud of the new music that will be coming out next year actually, I think it’s my best work yet and hopefully others will too. I’ll definitely be throwing in at least a couple of new ones at the Goods Shed.

The Kite String Tangle play the Goods Shed, Hobart on Saturday 24th February.

-Amanda Laver