How do you review an album that has already picked up so much praise?
I started writing seriously about “Americana” in 2018 when I joined Americana UK, so missed the last D&TCOTW album by a year. That makes this my first real experience of them. Having not had a chance to listen until the word was out that it was something special, I was concerned I wouldn’t hear what everyone else was finding in it. It took about a minute of opener ‘Talking a Good Game’ to find myself in the presence of something quite extraordinary.
That song and the following ‘Kicking Tyres’ transcend genre, other reviewers have called it chamber pop, in the style of Blue Nile or Lambchop. But trying to pigeonhole music this good miss the point. Truly great records defy categories. There’s a flash of Van Morrison at his most sublime in ‘Future Past,’ certainly pastoral Bill Nelson or Harold Budd in ‘I’m In Love’ but there isn’t one word that covers this album.
The record is named for a line by the late English essayist and speaker Alan Watts, whose work has also influenced talents as diverse as the aforementioned Van Morrison and Spike Jonze. Wilson, citing Cloud-Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal, says: “Alan Watts’ quote is ‘You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here,’ which I love.”
The sax that drives the intro ‘Robot Cries’ from Lachlan Wilson, Danny’s Uncle, and the percussive bass which pushes the rest of the song deserves the Mel Collins, and Andy McKay comparisons.
Four brief vignettes break up the album almost as palette cleansers, with ‘Last Exit’ and ‘Every Door You Have Ever Opened’ running together. The rest of the songs have been allowed to breath and find their natural length, whether that is 5 minutes or 9.
You Are Not A Stranger Here also has its own subtle concept. “The way the record is laid out is across a day,” explains Danny. “You hear the weather report in the morning and then you’re immediately into this question of ‘I know what I’m doing, but I don’t know why I’m doing it anymore.’
Musically it’s a step ahead of his previous work. Having got to know Pedal Steel player Henry Senior through his work with Our Man In The Field, I was naturally listening for his work, which is as exceptional as you would expect. But then so are the rest of the band. And this is a band. It may have Danny’s name and songs upfront, but the personality of each player is clear throughout.
Danny reiterates the potential of the album’s lyrical sentiment, as he identifies a line from the opening ‘Talking A Good Game.’ “It talks about me and songwriting and says ‘Who am I kidding? I’m just the same as you.’ It’s asking why you’re trying to be universal, why are you looking for something big to say?
“These aren’t huge epiphanies,” he concludes. “They’re little things that you’ve suddenly realised about yourself, about life and the weirdest thing is that by singing about not trying to be universal, these are possibly the most universal things I’ve ever written.”
Another contender for album of the year, it’s going to be a hard pick… Buy it here.
