Name: Daniel Darrow aka The Pull of Autumn

Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, songwriter
Current Release: The Pull of Autumn's new singles "Live Today" and "Outlaw Empire", featuring Mark Stewart and a remix by Adrian Sherwood, are out via rbm. A full-length, Beautiful Broken World, will follow on December 9th 2022.
Recommendations: Talk Talk’s album Laughing Stock. I highly recommend as it was a big influence for me.
Scott Walker’s Tilt is another album of ambitious and forward thinking music that deeply influenced me.

[Read our Tim Friese-Greene of Talk Talk interview]

If you enjoyed this interview with Daniel Darrow / The Pull of Autumn and would like to stay up to date with the project, visit rbm Records on Soundcloud, twitter, and Facebook.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started and writing and playing music professionally around 1990. At that time my first band, “Johanna’s House of Glamour” was influenced by bands such as Talk Talk, Scott Walker and also included a love for prog bands and experimental music such as Germany’s CAN, Neu! and Faust.

[Read our Michael Rother of Neu! interview]
[Read our Michael Rother of Neu! interview about improvisation]

Even in those early days I became obsessed with mixing elements of acoustic and electronic music. After my wife’s passing in 2015, I recreated my vision by focusing on home production and electronic music.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

As an avid listener of all genres of music, I look for the point where space and composition form into one creative whole. For me space and ambiance in sound structure is very important.

Classical music in particular influences my composition as I can be overcome with emotion.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Since the beginning of “Pull of Autumn” in 2018 I have worked very hard on developing and creating an original voice in music through production.

As far as breakthroughs I think I have come to a greater understanding of how to meld different types of music into one body of sound.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I feel like an alien lost on earth, and because of that feeling I tend to reach out to the more abstract and out there artists on the fringes and not afraid to be experimental in there style of music.

I am not afraid to create music completely outside of the box, to me the reward is in the composition and the emotion it can draw from you.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

For me personally, one of the key ideas behind my approach to music has been a sense of space and minimalism, while also conveying a sense of honesty.

The opportunity to work with some of my favorite artists that I now can call friends has changed my life. Musicians like Fred Abong of “Throwing Muses”, Gary Bromely of “Dif Juz”, Apolonia from “Seasurfer”, Richard Vincent Adams of “Hood”, Ben Holton of “Epic 45”, Luke “Skyscraper” James of “Fashion”, Stuart Moxham from “Young Marble Giants”, Mark Stewart of “The Pop Group” and producer Adrian Sherwood alongside many others.

[Read our Gareth Sager of The Pop Group interview]

An incredible journey to work with artists I love and to create a focused vision of sound.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I feel the best music is music with a sense of timelessness, something that doesn’t ever feel dated or “Of it’s time”. I feel music of the future can also contain elements of the past.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

My home studio that includes some of todays most advanced synthesizers has given me the opportunity to open up avenues in my composition that continue to astonish even me!

One of the most promising things is taking sound down into its most minute level. I spend hours working with glitch and loops trying to create different sounds.
 
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Every morning I wake up, feed my two cats Floki and Finn, then immediately after make a cup of coffee. Watch the daily news in a typically horrified and disappointed manner. Afterwards I will go through my massive library of music and pick the playlist for the day.

After some musical inspiration I will typically head over to my home studio and inspired or not dive into my work. Sometimes no inspiration is an inspiration unto itself.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

An example of a track that is very dear to me is a tune called “Moonbeams” which will debut on the new Pull of Autumn album.

Fellow Rhode Island musicians sent me stem files to the song. Artist’s Paul Everett and Kraig Jordan did an acoustic cover of the song with its open space and textures, it was a perfect tool for sound design.  

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

I tend to be a solitary listener of music and on the other hand of the spectrum in the studio with the advancement of file sharing I can work with a multitude of artists and feel like there in the room with me.

When I am listening I usually do so alone, in headphones to really listen to every element of the production and sound. Collaboratively I feel like I get to share other artists visions while also implementing my own and together we form something unique and special.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I believe music is the universal language, we can all listen and understand its depth and beauty.

I hope with my music some people can connect to it on any level and find connection to it in there own way.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

I think music for me has encompassed all of these emotions you mention, it has gotten me through many tough times and brought out much raw emotion in me and helped me look inward while moving forward.

I believe music can truly heal the soul.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

Hmm … I don’t really know the answer to that, but I will say that music can help people who may feel lost or depressed and maybe motivate them to some degree.

I think music can be great for mental health and I think that is a wonderful thing!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Music involves much more complex building blocks and a far deeper process. Making a cup of coffee is a few simple steps, and if it’s not good you can still drink it or just make another cup but with music it is not so simple.

There are far more things at play creating even a single track, and if one thing is out of sync it will immediately bring me back to the drawing board, back to the beginning of the composition.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I think music is non-discriminatory and non-malevolent.

I think music is healing and as said above the universal language, no matter who you are or where you come from music can touch us all in deep and very profound and emotional ways.