INTERVIEW WITH UP INCOMING PRODUCER AND SONGWRITER DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS

Daniel Loumpouridis is a rising songwriter and producer who has worked with such artists as Freddy Kennett of Louis The Child and ZOLA. Even scoring a writing credit on a K Flay track as well as having songs placed in shows like Dear White People, show he's poised for more. His solo debut "Fall and Fixture" is out today featuring lead single "Not December", which he co-wrote with Freddy Kennett. Check out my interview with Daniel to learn more about him.


THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: CD or Vinyl?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: Big vinyl guy. I actually just had a conversation with my roommate about the importance of vinyl in my life. Next to my laptop and Prophet synthesizer, my vinyl collection is my most prized possession. When you collect records, you start to build attachments not just to the music but to the physical album and I think that's so important.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: How did you come up with lyric video concept for “callmeback” and why?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: I was trying to conceptualize how this song should take place visually, and "via text" seemed like the most compelling solution. That horrible feeling of watching, waiting, stressing while someone types out an answer on the other end is pretty universal. That being said, the song wasn't originally conceived as a conversation, so I was ecstatic when I came up with the idea of making this a two way street. The flip in the chorus when the other person involved starts typing is my favorite part. It's unexpected, and adds a whole new layer of perspective to the song. All of a sudden this is a dialogue, rather than a drunken rant. I think that's fascinating, especially considering that we didn't even intend for the song to be heard that way originally.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: Let’s talk about the recording and creative process for your debut record, “Fall & Fixture”?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: The artist in me wants to say that I've been working on this album my entire life, but in reality it's more accurate to say that the process started in November 2018 when I wrote "Softlight", the first track on the record. That sound, vocal delivery, and approach became the catalyst for a thousand other ideas, and by May 2019 I had a complete 12 song project. All the pieces just sort of fell into place while at the same time my personal life fell apart. I went through an awful breakup, I graduated college, and I started to move across the country to LA. Everything I knew when I started writing was completely different by the time it was done. It was a beautiful sort of duality that sparked the majority of the creative enterprising on this album.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: Why did you choose that album title?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: It comes from one of my favorite lyrics of all time, off of Bon Iver's "8 (Circle)". The whole line is, "You called and I came, stood tall through it all / Fall and fixture just the same thing". That blew my mind the first time I heard it, and it applies heavily to this point in my life. To stand still is the same thing as falling backwards. We can't hang onto plateaus or stability, the only way to live is to keep moving forward.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: How did you originally connect with Freddy Kennett of Louis The Child?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: Freddy and I are practically brothers. We've known each other since we were in junior high, and have made probably fifty or so tracks together since then. These just happen to be a few that have actually made it to the light of day. 

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: What do you feel Freddy brought to the two tracks “Not December” and “November” that you guys collaborated on?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: November is all me. Freddy is featured on "Not December" and "Version of You". He brought exactly what I needed. "Version of You" is actually four or five years old. I wrote those lyrics my freshman year of college, and they sat for a year until I whipped them out in a studio with Freddy and our friend Jacob. We were messing around with a new vocoder plugin, and we ended up with that first section of the song, but just his voice. Two years later I was home for winter break my senior year of school and rediscovered it. I pitched it down, and was originally going to make them two separate songs until my brilliant friend Nick Leng told me to smash the two together. It was a long journey, but couldn't have been possible without Fred."Not December" was much simpler. I had come up with the reversed piano line the day before, and played it for Freddy and his then-girlfriend Tess. They're both wildly creative, and we just started riffing off that piano until we had some melodic ideas we liked. After that, the song sort of just snowballed.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: What’s a typical creative process like for you?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: I usually need something harmonic that I latch onto. A chord progression that fits my current disposition. After that comes drums, and once I have a solid 4-8 bar loop I try writing something. If it doesn't suck, I move forward from there. When it comes to lyrics I tend to overthink if I'm writing it down on a pad or on my phone, so I mostly like to just improvise into the mic until something good comes out. Most of these songs are improvised through and through. 

https://youtu.be/c50nAi1Qit8

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: What advice do you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: It doesn't matter how good your ideas are if your mix sucks.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: Switching gears a bit and here’s a fun question if you had your own talk show who would your first three guests be and why?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: Rick Rubin, D'angelo, James Murphy. All brilliant recluse dudes who have made their way doing exactly the opposite of what people were expecting, and I owe my career to each one of them.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: What was your favorite children's book as a kid?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was a big one for me. Being Greek I latched onto the Greek Myth thing a lot.

THE RECLUSIVE BLOGGER: Are there any artists that have been “On Repeat” for you lately? What music have you been digging? And what's next for you?

DANIEL LOUMPOURIDIS: Labrinth's score for Euphoria has a couple of absolute bangers on it. FKA Twigs is a genius who will not be fully appreciated until long after her time. Mac Miller's Swimming is beautiful and tragic. Goldlink's Diaspora is one of the most fun albums I've ever heard. The Strokes' Is This It and Frank Ocean's Blonde are always on repeat.What's next is another album! It's already done. Just gotta get final mixes and mastering done. Also a whole bunch of production for other people. On my Spotify page is a playlist called "Things I've Done". It's where you can keep up with everything I've been even remotely involved in, even if it doesn't have me as the main artist. So excited for everything to come out. There's indie, folk, rap, electronic stuff. All amazing with amazing people.

You can follow Daniel on Instagram below and be sure to check out his "Things I've Done" Spotify Playlist. You can also stream his debut "Fall and Fixture" out now.


Until then,

Brittney x

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