“I keep thinking of this delicate moment directly after you’ve turned off an incandescent bulb,” songwriter/producer Daniel Loumpouridis explains, “there’s a dim light that is almost refusing to die. I wanted this project to feel like you’re sitting in a dark room, staring at the light bulb just after it’s gone out while the warmth is still holding your attention”. Through the warmth and darkness Loumpouridis has crafted a unique sonic palette of rich emotional depth with his first solo debut, Fall & Fixture, set for release on November 15, 2019.
Today, he shares “Not December”, featuring and co-written by Freddy Kennett of Louis The Child. “What we ended up with is an abstraction of emotion,” says Loumpouridis of the track. “A song that would rather paint a picture through watercolor phrases and moments rather than communicate with linear thought.”
Having only two of decades of life experiences behind him, Daniel Loumpouridis has reached milestones in his early career normally achieved through much longer, established paths. At age 17, his first writing credit, Louis The Child’s “It’s Strange (feat. K.Flay)”, garnered over sixty million streams and multiple features including placements on theFIFA 16 soundtrack, Netflix’s hit show Dear White People, and a national Nissan automotive ad campaign. While further honing his talents at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, Loumpouridis continued creating a world of production and writing credits with artists like Louis the Child, Nick Leng and ZOLA. Now he is stepping forward with his own LP, revealing an aesthetic voice not heard in today’s music landscape.
The opening track of Fall & Fixture, “Softlight”, sets the tone as a reflective, almost regretful anthem about love and perception. The song sways between tenderly asking the listener to close their eyes and demanding that they stay wide open. Guitars drown in reverb while dancing around Loumpouridis’ laments of a dynamic shift in a relationship teetering on the brink.
Following “Softlight” is the sparse yet tense plea for stability, “Version of You”. The song begins the chronological story of a formative, long-term relationship that is omnipresent throughout the project. Written with Jacob Mehlman and Freddy Kennett (Louis The Child), “Version of You” comes off as a self-inflicted wound, the melody and harmony searching frantically for a sense of resolution as Kennett sings desperately trying to regain a sense of control over the situation.
Perhaps the most ambitious production of Fall & Fixture belongs to “Erin in the Ocean”. Owing a debt to modern dance music pioneers like LCD Soundsystem and Flume, this manic recording features nylon string guitar, a frying pan played like a cowbell, and Loumpouridis’ distinctive falsetto timbre. Seemingly strange bedfellows, these ingredients make compelling textural guides as listeners finds themselves in an unfamiliar yet welcoming sonic playground.
Multiple collaborators elevate the album with each one providing their signature sound. The deeply sensual voice of Cassie Marin shapes the ethos of Fall & Fixture’s penultimate track, “callmeback”, as the song details a frantic and ultimately doomed attempt to hold onto a relationship. Leila Sunier’s ghostly folk soprano haunts the strangely danceable “Mind Up”, as she and Loumpouridis yearn for truth in a duet that is both striking in its originality and poignant resonance. The writing and vocal performances from Freddy Kennett on aftermentioned “Version of You” and “Not December” lend a bubbly, emotive sense of melody that lives at the heart of his group, Louis the Child.
The project’s title comes from a song by one of Loumpouridis’ favorite artists, Bon Iver. “The full line is: ‘you called and I came, stood tall through it all. Fall and fixture just the same thing’. Progress can’t be made standing still. Whether we’re talking about personal relationships, creative process, or career paths, the only way forward is to actually move forward. Fall and fixture are the same thing.”