Icarus Phoenix: The Oligarchy

Singer-songwriter Drew Danburry seriously regrets that he did not vote, so to make amends he wrote a soft-spoken warning song about not making that same mistake again for his folk rock band Icarus Phoenix: "While everyone was watching a liar get elected I was making love to the person I care for most // And rather than engaging in powerless worry // I wrote the next three words you'll hate. I didn't vote."

As per usual the track is also available as a solo acoustic version, but this time there is an extra treat: an early demo recorded with the full band.

Icarus Phoenix: Choke

Singer-songwriter Drew Danburry wrote a deceptively upbeat song about running away from toxicity for his folk rock band Icarus Phoenix. Choke finds him breathing freely again and the relief is almost palpable. As per usual the track is also available as a solo acoustic version, which is actually far more intense than the full band version.

Icarus Phoenix: Gallop

photo: Jefferson Liu

Three of the tracks on the new Icarus Phoenix EP Gallop already saw the light of day as singles, but with the addition of the upbeat pop punk song Depresso Dragon Bop it becomes a concise release about having fun, despite life throwing obstacles in the way of main man and songwriter Drew Danbury. Having regrets is not helpful at all and soldiering on is the only way to stay sane and being able to move on.

As a lyricist Danbury never holds back, using straightforward words to describe his joys, angers and pet peeves, although most listeners will reach for the dictionary to look up "desiccate". The EP is filled out with alternate - and quite frankly superior - endings for two of the songs, plus acoustic solo demos. The latter gives a good idea of his modus operandi, before the other band members come in and work their magic, turning them into songs that will appeal to both folk rockers and punkers.

Icarus Phoenix: Oh, the Joy of Life!

A chance meeting with someone who managed to get out of a cult inspired singer-songwriter Drew Danburry to write Oh, the Joy of Life! for his band Icarus Phoenix, taking a scalpel to all the false promises that keep religious fanatics in check. O, and the leader will fuck your sister. Nice constrast using upbeat, sunny side up music to expose the dark side. Evangelicals will hate it.

Icarus Phoenix: Boiled Peanuts, misheard

Singer-songwriter Drew Danburry tackles the thorny subject of failing to communicate, either on purpose or by chance on Boiled Peanuts, misheard, the new single he wrote for his band Icarus Phoenix. Starting of each verse with either E minor or A minor the sadness is almost palpable, although there also some anger bubbling under the surface.

He feels like he is running around in circles - "Every conversation becomes the same // Everything I knew has been replaced // So many tongues are choking me". A beautiful melody can be used as a vessel for something that really hurts. Maybe that is why he reached out to fellow songwriter Alex Coleman (Chasing Mice) to lend a hand with the backing vocals.

Icarus Phoenix: On my belly

If anything singer-songwriter Drew Danburry does not shy away from being straightforward in his lyrics. On my belly, the new single he wrote for his band Icarus Phoenix, is a jangling pop song about having doubts contemplating having offspring.

Lines like "Put a baby in me she said put a baby in me she said // Not on my belly or my face not on my belly or my face" likely won't make it past the stuck-up gatekeepers of mainstream playlists. Which is a damn shame, because these things happen in the real world and it comes with an ace melody. As per usual the track is also available as a solo acoustic version.

Icarus Phoenix: I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said (Deluxe Edition)

When Drew Danburry shared his hurt about his divorce on the Icarus Phoenix album I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said last year, it was a pretty intense journey. Those ten songs, including the Mother Lights cover In The Blood, were only the tip of the iceberg. In a flurry of creativity the band recorded 40 (!) songs in three days, with producer Jed Jones as a true ally to keep the the momentum going. The subsequent single releases culled from those sessions were proof that maybe that way too many darlings were killed when assembling the original, so Danburry did a 180° and decided to release 37 songs in all for an expanded deluxe edition, using the order in which they were recorded.

Heartbreak is a source for mixed emotions: hurt, anger, grief, and even relief. The latter comes to the fore in the upbeat Solitude. Drewbury keeps his lyrics pretty straightforward mostly, honouring the folk adage that simple words can tell a great story, but he is not afraid to go the opposite route by comparing the break-up as a conflict between Tachykinin vs. Habenula, which will have most listeners reaching for a medical handbook. Self-deprecating humour is also part of the equation, with Poor Sad Indie Everything, Not Misunderstanding Litotes, and the stop-start approach for Live. Give. Lose. Grow., with the music taking short pauses as well, a highlight from the original album.

Icarus Phoenix: Jump Like This and Hop Over

Songwriter Drew Danburry has written a song for a couple who had his back after his divorce: Jump Like This and Hop Over. They lived cross-country, but distance did not matter. His band Icarus Phoenix turned it into jangling psych-tinged folk song. As per usual the track is also available as a solo acoustic version.

Icarus Phoenix: Love

Songwriter Drew Danburry got the idea for Love, the latest single by his band Icarus Phoenix, when he was out with his friends for some bowling and monster mini golf. Most people will think that is about sex, which is totally fine. It is an upbeat folk rocker with a hint of melancholia. As per usual the track is also available as solo acoustic version.

Icarus Phoenix: The World That We Live In

Remember optimism? The feeling that things could actually work out? Songwriter Drew Danburry is fully aware that the idiots are ruling the asylum right now, but it does not hurt to dream away with The World That We Live In, the latest release by his band Icarus Phoenix. As per usual the track is also available as solo acoustic version.

Icarus Phoenix: Pedantic Myopia

Experimental folk band Icarus Phoenix make a stand for people that nobody bothers to give a second glance on their new single Pedantic Myopia. Alternating between anger and grief, the song is captured in a quiet intensity that is on the break of fully erupting.

By holding back there is no relief, which is good choice for a description of a person who keeps running into walls again and again. As per usual the solo acoustic demo, recorded by the band's songwriter Drew Danburry, is also available as part of the download.

Icarus Phoenix: Old Sleep Singer

Songwriter Drew Danburry has been working on and off on Bird's Song, a children's story and EP for 20 years. It will be released as a cassette and book combination on December 17. Old Sleep Singer gives some insight in the story, a subtle song wherein grief, cynicism and fear are no match for love in the end. A few members of his Icarus Phoenix helped him out. As per usual the solo acoustic demo is also available as part of the download.

Icarus Phoenix: Homeostasis

Experimental folk band Icarus Phoenix had to kill some of their darlings when they chose the tracks for their I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said album. Homeostasis was one of the tracks that fell by the wayside, but now sees the light of day as a single, with songwriter Drew Danburry being just a bit of tongue-in-cheek about trying to keep his desires under control. Its lighthearted mood comes to the fore more fully with the full band rendition, but is nice to hear his solo acoustic demo as well.

Icarus Phoenix: Hatillo 2

Experimental folk band Icarus Phoenix have picked Hatillo 2 as the next single from I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said. Songwriter Drew Danburry wrote it to come to terms with a harrowing experience in the neighbourhood in San José, Costa Rica, after which the song is named. Suffice to say that it involves being confronted with death and relationship troubles.

Icarus Phoenix: "I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said" video

Icarus Phoenix have made a video for the title track of their I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said album: "Grief and anger have always been sure fire catalysts for memorable songs, and by gift wrapping them in a mix of folk,blues and shoegaze - genres that have their fair share of soul searching elements - it became a vessel for closure".

Icarus Phoenix: I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said

Drew Danburry is trying to come to terms with the effects of his divorce on I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said, the new album by his band Icarus Phoenix. Grief and anger have always been sure fire catalysts for memorable songs, and by gift wrapping them in a mix of folk, blues and shoegaze - genres that have their fair share of soul searching elements - it became a vessel for closure. Well, sort of. Not being to see his kid on a regular basis hurts, because finding affordable housing for himself took him many, many miles away from him. Plus the small matter of trying to make the alimony payments ensures long working hours.

Still, somehow he found the time to write songs and come up with arrangements that are sad, but also uplifting. There is room for a bit of musicians' humour as well, like the stop-start approach for Live. Give. Lose. Grow., with the music taking short pauses as well. It all comes together in the album's sprawling closer, Kanashimi (Japanese for sorrow), a song as fragile as an origami crane. Recommended if you like the Decemberists, Eric Margan & The Red Lions, and Iron & Wine.

Icarus Phoenix: Doctor! Doctor!

Songwriter Drew Danburry wrote another song about his divorce for his band Icarus Phoenix Doctor! Doctor! tells the true story about the results of an online mental health questionnaire. The results were hardly surprising, labeling him as suffering from a depresion, as he had to leave his son behind and he is now working hard in a different town to stay afloat and make enough money for child support as well.

Blues and folk are the go to genres when this kind of shit happens and he choose the latter. Like with the previous single High Tide, the track is accompanied by a harrowing solo acoustic version. The video was edited by Arielle Nelson.

Icarus Phoenix: High Tide

Songwriter Drew Danburry went through a divorce, which left him devastated as he was being looked as a commodity whose value would be sole subject of his worth. He coped it with in the best way he could: turn into a song for his band Icarus Phoenix.

High Tide is both a plea and accusation, trying to make sense of the clusterfuck he found himself in: "You can't value what's misunderstood, such obstinate ignorance // You can't value what's misunderstood, such thoughtless callous judgment". The track is accompanied by a harrowing solo acoustic version. When that fails to move you, see a shrink asap.

Icarus Phoenix: Painting

Drew Danburry leads his band Icarus Himself through slow moving shoegaze on the new single Painting. Grief reigns surpreme in this amalgam of R.E.M. and the Decemberists, as Drewbury sings about his mother who never picked up a brush to create again art after the therapy classes that she attended after her third son succumbed to cancer were over. The pace picks up a bit near the end, before diving into a drone-driven coda on top of a chugging back beat that sounds like a freight train passing by in the distance.

It is a track from their new album I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said, due for release in August.

HCTF premiere - Icarus Phoenix (feat. Josaleigh Pollett & Drew Danburry): "Too Many Hands" video

Too Many Hands is one those slow, shapeshifting folk songs, where the lead melody comes out on top every single time, never mind who sings it. Songwriter Drew Danburry recorded five different versions with his band Icarus Phoenix and the one with he shares vocals with Josaleigh Pollett might be the best one.

The video uses footage from the classic movie The Last Time I Saw Paris and the lyrics fit the on-screen interaction between Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson like a glove. Do listen to the other four versions as well. You can't have too much of a good thing.