Hot on the heels of the track, ‘Boy On The Lake’, his PMR debut that Clash Magazine identified as “a miniature masterpiece”, north London-based producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Daniel Briskin this week releases haunting new track ‘Yellow’, a rich and vivid snapshot of adolescent second-guessing and self-doubt.
As with its predecessor, ‘Yellow’ is the result of Briskin collaborating with Klaxons founding member, Jamie Reynolds and JONAH at the Margate studio that’s become something of a second home for the 19-year-old. Daniel describes the self-deprecating track as “a ‘sod you’ to myself”; the volatility of its subject matter reflected in a song whose sonically introspective, placid starting point abruptly gives way to intense, frenetic beats then just as suddenly withdraws back into itself, all in a little over three minutes.
“It’s a song about the juxtaposition of head versus heart,” Daniel adds. “The chorus is: ‘Don’t call me, I can only let you down’. It’s about being self-aware enough to see you’re not in a good place to be in a relationship, but at the same time also trying to convince the other person that it’s a good idea. Ultimately, it’s saying: These are my flaws, but I still want to have a future with you.”
The video for the track was directed by Eddie Whelan (Gucci, Mui Mui) and was partly shot in Daniel’s small home studio with a cast of friends.
‘Yellow’ is the second instalment in this distinctive new talent’s journey with PMR. It also continues Daniel’s visual collaboration with Joe Cruz, the white-hot visual artist who’d caught Daniel’s eye through work for Jacquemus and Stüssy. The pair met last year and hit it off, creating a series of images that blends Cruz’s layered, unconventional approach to portraiture with Daniel’s own reference points like Gummo, surrealist art and his favourite Italian Renaissance paintings.
Daniel’s forthcoming mixtape Forever Was A Feeling, also recorded with Jamie Reynolds, is an extraordinarily and immersive body of work. It captures the claustrophobia and euphoria of late adolescence, mixing nostalgia with an overwhelming relief that the whole thing’s nearly over, all seen through the eyes of a realist who can’t help being a bit of a dreamer. The result is dark pop, with a glimmer of light never too far away.
Releases new track ‘Yellow’ out now on PMR
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