Image provided by Daphne’s Demise
“It’s just getting closer to what I was trying to achieve in my room all those years ago.”
A bedroom by the quiet lake with ripples occasionally from the wildlife. Clairo’s “Pretty Girl” playing in the background as you try to capture what it means to be seventeen. Zoë, better known for her project Daphne’s Demise, has come a long way from that bedroom, creating more atmospheric sounds of the area she resides in now. “Lucky Trees,” a possible ode to her money trees in her living room, comes out with sounds from decades ago, wrapped in her modern lyricism.
death of a rabbit had the pleasure of speaking with Daphne’s Demise on her new single and evolution since high school. “Lucky Trees” is out now today on streaming platforms.
DEATH OF A RABBIT: How are you?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: I’m great!
DOAR: You are up in Ontario, Canada. What’s the music scene up there like?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: My specific city has a pretty small music scene; I pretty much know everybody closely who’s involved in it. We’re only an hour from Detroit, and about three from Toronto. There’s a lot of bands that come through here and play a few of our venues that we have. It’s kind of a mixture–the sounds that you’d be hearing in Detroit and some stuff going on in Toronto. I think it’s influenced by both of those.
DOAR: You also have been making music since high school and have three albums out. What’s changed since high school (lyricism, sonics)?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: In high school, I was learning about the recording process at the same time as writing my own music. It was very bedroom and dream pop inspired back then, and I still really love that stuff. But it was very lo-fi, very simple. I learned how to make simple melodies and I still really like that simplicity. But nowadays, I’ve experimented with recording in more of a studio setting, and I have some friends that play with me now and a backing band live too. It’s really changed sonically in that sense.
DOAR: What marks this new era for you? How is this a breath of fresh air for you?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: I feel like the more you do it, the more you can achieve closer to what you’re envisioning and what you envisioned for yourself and your art. I’ve gone more towards an alt country sound, which I think people are hearing a lot more now. It’s been on the rise for the last 10 years or so. It’s a mixture of indie and a more accessible country.
I’ve always been really inspired by 60’s, 70’s pop and soft rock. I feel like more of my influences are obvious in the new stuff I’m doing, because I have the equipment and means to achieve that sound. It’s just getting closer to what I was trying to achieve in my room all those years ago. I’m in the studio and have the tools at my disposal to get there.
DOAR: I really like the alt-folk sound, and I feel like it does make sense for a lot of locations like Asheville, NC and Kentucky, for example. Do you feel like it also represents where you come from, or do you just gravitate towards the sound?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: I think it’s part of that. Over the years, I’ve gravitated towards that music. But in the area I live in now, it’s a small city and it’s very much powered by farms. There’s a lot of farms around here, a lot of countryside, and my family from Pennsylvania has always been into bluegrass music and such too. So, I heard those kinds of sounds from a young age and been interested in it. It’s a variety of little things that led to using this as the best medium for me right now, in terms of getting my thoughts out musically.
DOAR: I really liked your use of instruments from different locations and times, like an instrument from the 60’s and Kentucky pedal steel.
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: “Lucky Trees” is a song where we recorded mostly at this studio in Canada. We worked with this guy Jonas Bonetta, who produced this song in the album that we recorded there, and he has this crazy studio. He really focuses on a hybrid of analog equipment and digital. He has a lot of classic instruments, like this big Baldwin grand piano from the 60’s. I feel like it just adds nice textures to the music. Those are things that I never really noticed before when I was just doing it DIY at home, but having access to those kinds of instruments brings more of a story behind it. It just has a great sound and it’s cool to be playing on an instrument that’s around 60 years old. The Kentucky pedal steel is literally a player that I reached out to online who’s based in Kentucky and trained in playing gospel music. So, it has that traditional sound to it, which I really liked!
DOAR: That’s so sick! Did you just get the files from him, or was he in the studio?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: Just online! I commissioned him. His name is Avery. I just sent him the song and told him the vibe I was going for, and he sent me back a track. We went back and forth a couple of times, adjusting it and shaping it a little more. But it was cool to have that experience. It’s pretty cool to live in a time where you can create songs remotely with people too.
DOAR: I also wanted to talk about “Lucky Trees” more, a song you made in the winter time. Is the trees you reference pine trees?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: I was writing it in my living room, and we had a couple of money tree plants. I was just staring at it while I came up with the chords and it morphed into “Lucky Trees” over time.
DOAR: I really enjoyed it, probably one of my favorites from your discography thus far! I thought that it was very interesting that you wrote it during the winter time, because “Lucky Trees” sounds more like spring or summer, just the words itself.
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: Totally! I was trying to accomplish more of a warmer weather vibe, and it’s weird to say it that way. But for the song, it’s fitting. It’s coming out at the end of August. That’s the time of year I was picturing when I was writing it.
DOAR: Do you make your own album artwork?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: For the most part, I do! My last EP though, Logan Adam did that cover. But the single covers before that and all the other album artwork have been me. With this upcoming album, I’ve been having fun commissioning other artists to do the album art and such because I think it’s another way to collaborate. There’s this guy that I commissioned who’s based in Montreal to do the cover, which I really like.
DOAR: With collaboration, I feel like it’s really cool to see how other artists interpret your art and their perspective on it.
With “Lucky Trees” being on your new record, is the album itself going to be more like a warmer weather album?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: It’s funny because that album is such an amalgamation of different kinds of sounds to me. It definitely has that driving force of the folky elements and the indie but “Lucky Trees” is definitely the most alt-country sounding of the songs on the album. They’re a lot more indie pop and almost a nice medium between. I feel like what I most recently put out and what I used to put out as a teenager is more dream pop. I’m excited for that to be finalized and ready to go, because I’m in the final stages. I think that it’s all over the map in terms of vibes. I’m excited about it for sure!
DOAR: Will “Lucky Trees” be getting any sort of visuals?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: I’m working on that actually right now! It’s still a very DIY endeavor. I kind of want to experiment with different kinds of animation for that as well. The goal is to definitely have a video for that.
DOAR: You started making music in your bedroom by a lake. What brings you back to that space?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE: Where I live, I’m a couple of blocks down from the river. I think growing up in a lakeside town has influenced not just my art, but my life in general. I can’t picture living in a space that’s not near a body of water. I’ve been spoiled that way, and it brings me a lot of peace. I feel really lucky to be close to that.
DOAR: death of a rabbit likes to focus on lyricism and poetry — I was wondering, what’s a lyric that you’ve listened to lately that you really enjoyed, or what’s a lyric that you wish you’d written?
DAPHNE’S DEMISE:
You’re so easy to be around
It’s like I’m not even walking beside you
We are rolling along the ground
One shadow made of mercury
We were two till we melted down
Now you’re easy to be around
You’re easy to be around
Diane Cluck, “Easy to Be Around”
Check out the new single below!
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