S J Denney has finally released his much anticipated EP 4 Reasons to Fly! The EP is a collection of personal feelings put into thoughts, with a varied sound that uses guitars, strings, drums and oboe, to offer a folk sound like none other full of complexity and emotion. Four Reasons to Fly merits to listen a relisten again and again, just to uncover everything it has to offer.
S J Denney is a singer-songwriter based on Essex in the United Kingdom. He fell in love with music when he was very young with artists such as The Beatles and Neil Young. While he started with a solid classical music training with clarinet, he decided to teach himself to play guitar and to write songs. Since then, he has been releasing a steady stream of singles and EP’s from which he has built himself a sound which he has used to build and express his deepest emotions, such as “Sticking Point”. Recorded by himself, and experimenting with a variety of world instruments, Four Reasons to Fly by S J Denney proves his growth as he is able to evolve his sound to another level. Music, thoughts, ideas and feelings all become one and the same.
The EP was recorded in the cabin at the end of my garden. Due to other commitments, most parts were done in the early hours of the morning. My approach to making music changed significantly before this record, with a focus of including a wide variety of world instruments. The EP is my first to feature a horn section, string section, harp and duduk (an Armenian woodwind instrument). – S J Denney
Four Reasons to Fly gives us four (and maybe more!) reasons to listen to this EP. Each of the tracks proves to be a driving force by themselves, by which S J Denney proves his talent with each one. “On Any Other Day” is a track that introduces us to the EP by soothing us and driving us through an endless ocean. Inspired by the lockdowns due to Covid, the lyrics sing a set of surreal images about losing oneself on infinity. Its horn section attracts our attention, as if they were the bumps on our road that helps us drive our own way. It the first track was about losing oneself, “All I’ve Ever Known” is about finding oneself. Deeply atmospheric with what may seem endless guitars, it reflects our character, who we really are and what we can achieve with ourselves. “And Then You Wonder….” is a dive into string orchestal arrangements filled with nostalgia. S J Denney takes inspiration from the The Beatles classic “Eleanor Rigby” and turns it in its head by transforming it into a dreamy song. Finally the album closes with “Is This the End?”, a track filled with such a variety of instruments from around the world, such as the duduk and its modern cousin, the oboe and the harp. The presence of such instruments alongside the vocals masterfully sang by S J Denney create a melancholic feeling deep withing our soul, as we think about those relationships which we are left asking about our future, about those relationships we feel unsure about. “Is this the end of the EP?”, one may ask. We highly recommend listening just a little longer, as we may be able to hear a short but sweet and deeply poetic surprise prepared by S J Denney!
S J Denney has created an EP in which music and thoughts appear as one and the same. 4 Reasons to Fly feels like an organic EP that experiments with soundscapes, instruments, mixing and recording to take us far away to understand ourselves and those who surround us when we finally come back. It is a trip that should not be missed!
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, SoundCloud, YouTube, and Spotify. You can also check out his official website. If you enjoy his music and are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share her music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Indie Only, Chill – Folk – Acoustic, and 12 New Songs This Week.
P.S. If you enjoy discovering new artists and fresh new music you can subscribe to this blog Less Than 1,000 Followers and follow the Playlist with all the artists that we have presented here!!!
This coverage was created via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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