The Kite String Tangle has returned with his highly anticipated second album and Danny Harley could not be happier with the final product.
As the brains behind the project, Harley has been chipping away at C()D3X for some time and has delivered an electronic escape through heavy and dark synths.
“As a solo act, an album is such a big investment of time and energy,” he said. “It’s always kind of like a timestamp of your life. For me it takes ages to do it; a year to two or three sometimes and it’s a cool little thing you have at the end of it.
“For me, this is a big change. I feel like I’ve focussed a lot more on the sound I’ve been trying to get for a long time.
“It’s a good meeting point of dance electronic music and indie-pop music; fun to dance to or listen to with headphones; you can party but also be sad.
“I’m super proud of it.”
Harley admits that he was never supposed to be a singer, but rather fell into vocals through playing with bands and not being able to find someone to fill the role. A programmer at heart, The Kite String Tangle has become renowned for mixing ethereal vocals and electronic creating a genre infusion of melancholy and dance.
“It’s always my natural thing to do the production or the music first,” he said. “I start from the ground up which is drums for me, I don’t know why, and then I layer it with bass and instruments and whatever.
“I approached this album differently because the last album was my first album and there was a lot of self-imposed pressure to follow the EP which had ‘Arcadia’ and ‘Given The Chance’ and songs that people liked.
“I had to follow it up somehow and I think I was consumed by that and I didn’t have as much intention in the whole thing as I wanted to – or in the wisdom of hindsight; that’s how I feel.
“That was a big thing for me this time around; I wanted to really conceptualise the whole thing before going in. I wanted to have a concept of how it would look, feel and sound and that eventually informed how it took shape sonically and aesthetically. I wanted it to be slightly darker and a bit more production heavy,” he continued.
“I just wanted it to be a cohesive little world that people could dive into. Not like a concept album or anything crazy like that, just a common thread through the whole album.
“That was my goal and I think that’s how it happened.”
Throughout C()D3X the synths are intertwined throughout tracks with variation making listening to the album from start to finish a voyage into Harley’s mind.
‘North’ is one of C()D3X most prominent tracks showing off Harley’s skill of infusion. ‘North’ is definitely one to dance to, but dark at the same time.
“’North’ started as a song I was going to do with this other artist and then I just ended up taking their bits out of it,” he laughed. “It was a long production.
“For me, songs get half done and then they just sit around for months until I re-open the session again and have another take at 20 per cent and then it sits around for another few months.
“It just always seems to be the way that things take a year for me and I have 30 things on the go at any given time.
“A lot of it was based around the In Your Loving Arms sample which we cleared and that was interesting clearing a sample for the first time. It was all built around that and slowly got more synthy.
“It was a really long process but really fun and it’s quite an unusual song I think.”
For die-hard The Kite String Tangle fans, you will not be disappointed by C()D3X. It still has all the flavours of what we’ve heard before, but there is the added element, one that has some grime to it, which makes the whole album package sublime. This new album proves Harley is an ever-evolving act and is only getting finer as time moves forward.
The C()D3X tour has been postponed for the time being but Harley hopes to be back on the road this year in what will surely follow in the footsteps of his previous mesmerising shows.
“I remember the first time I ever played (as The Kite String Tangle) it was just nuts because I was not used to being on stage by myself,” he said.
“It was absolutely terrifying and there was probably 10 people there.
“There was definitely a big adjustment period. In the previous act I’d been in, I was kind of the person putting everything together before the show so I was kind of used to that process. It was more of an adjustment to being the sole focus.
“You’re in charge the whole time so you have to be confident and be prepared.
“Now I have a drummer who joins me on stage most of the time which is more dynamic and adds another level and more interest for the audience. It’s an ever-evolving thing and there’s always something more you want to do.
“I love adding lights and other bits and pieces to the show. It’s going to be fun putting together a whole new show.”
Check out the album below and keep an eye out for the postponed tour dates.
Written by Kim Price