Ian Daniel Kehoe wears many titles: producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, visual artist — and he’s also well-known as the drummer for The Weather Station, Andy Shauf, and Julia Jacklin. As a lifelong admirer of pop and its many variations, he has always found a way to incorporate the genre’s propensity for unabashed euphoria and ear-twitching catchiness. Whether doling out bounding basslines in Ontario band Attack in Black or working under the guise of arty bubblegum outfit Marine Dreams, he blurs the lines between aesthetics until such rigid constructs are rendered unimportant.
On his forthcoming record, Disco Body Buzz, he takes a deep dive into the miasmic world of disco and its synth-pop ancillaries. Opting to revel in the whirling eddies of these sounds, he gives himself over to the opulent nature of these rhythms, creating something inherently respectful of its origins but also wildly spirited in the way it reshapes those same inspirations. Of lead single, “Don’t Stop Fallin in Love”, he says:
“‘Don’t Stop Fallin In Love’ is a unifying chorus of empathy. An encouragement to engage with reality on its own terms, a reality of the world and of oneself. ‘Adoration and acceptance…’ coming of their own accord once one surrenders. And maybe no better way to surrender than to dance… the ultimate purpose of this, the first single from the upcoming full-length, Disco Body Buzz”.
The track is a blissfully slinky call to give yourself fully to the emotional turbulence of reality, to the uncertainty of affection — and maybe, to the fickleness of the future. And even when things seem too random and capricious to be fully understood, Kehoe suggests that we can just dance. And in these wild movements, we might discover a purpose where we least expected it.
Ian Daniel Kehoe will release Disco Body Buzz on March 5 via Tin Angel Records. Keep up with him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
