Danielle Durack has talked about how writing songs allows her to get rid of the mental clatter in her head. No matter the motivation, we’re lucky to hear the sweet, dreamy results.
The Phoenix singer-songwriter made her debut this spring at South by Southwest, and is three albums into a promising career.
The Show met up with her on a breezy day at Tovrea Castle — part of the return of Tiny Desert Concerts — and started off by asking how often heartbreak influences her music.
Full conversation
DANIELLE DURACK: I think I definitely have been influenced by heartbreak. The last record I put out in 2021 is like a textbook heartbreak breakup album. I really try to take those negative things and process them through my music and even some of the happier things I write and have like, a melancholy twinge to them, unfortunately, but there's two sides to everything. I've been writing since I was pretty young. I was like in the fifth grade when I wrote my first really bad song, and it's just kind of been an outlet for me. It's like a diary that I share with the world, for some reason. I try to let the creativity flow. I feel like when I try to set out to write something good is when the bad stuff comes out — without fail. So, yeah, just try and get out of my own way.
GOLDSTEIN: Do you feel like you know when, when something is working for you, when you're progressing on a song the way you want to?
DURACK: Oh, totally, yeah. I know there's like, this intense excitement that you're like, "This is good. This is good. Don't mess it up."
GOLDSTEIN: The diary aspect, when you mentioned a diary that comes up to me, now you're thinking you are really opening yourself up. So when you're performing the songs, as you were for us, do you sort of get into your own zone, or do you notice whether it's five of us or 1000 people watching?
DURACK: I try to just stay present in, you know, in my body, but I definitely get nervous and stuff. And that was interesting, the five of you there, that's honestly more nerve wracking than, like, a full room sometimes.
GOLDSTEIN: So you grew up here?
DURACK: I did.
GOLDSTEIN: What do you think of the general Valley music scene? And is that something that you feel like you can expand in or are you going to have to look for greater horizons at some point soon?
DURACK: Like Phoenix is my home, and it's always going to be my home. I want to stay here. I want to travel. I don't know if I ever want to, like, live anywhere else, you know, for extended periods, but Phoenix is growing super fast, and I've watched even in the last five years, the music scene kind of explode, and a lot of friends of mine are doing some really cool things. So I don't think I necessarily need to leave Phoenix to make my dreams a reality.
GOLDSTEIN: So Danielle is gonna play a song for us. What's it gonna be?
DURACK: This one is, "There Goes My Heart."
GOLDSTEIN: You mentioned writing your first song in fifth grade. Yeah, so was the idea of being a musician, did that come right away for you? And did it? Did it ever feel easy? Or is it something you really feel like this time I want to work at because I feel so good when I do it?
DURACK: Um, yeah. I mean, I think it felt easy when I was a kid, because I wasn't listening very critically. I was like, "this is fun." I probably didn't sound great. Um, but as long as I can remember, I've wanted to do music. I wanted to be like a rock star or whatever. And then I remember my older brother, who played guitar at some point, was like, "You're not a real musician if you don't write your own songs." And I was like, "Ok, I got to write my own songs," that's how it started. So yeah, I don't know if I agree with that still, but it was motivating at the time.
GOLDSTEIN: So, South by Southwest is coming up.
DURACK: It is, yeah.
GOLDSTEIN: So tell me about your feelings about doing that.
DURACK: I’m so nervous and so stressed and so excited — in that order.
GOLDSTEIN: And so post pandemic. I mean, I imagine people are going to be even more excited to see performers like yourself and other people. So do you think that's going to affect what it feels like once you actually do it?
DURACK: I hope so. I think, I don't know. I think people are craving that connection, and I think that it's going to feel really sweet after being away for so long.
GOLDSTEIN: Let me just ask it then, not about South by Southwest, but in that same sort of vein, have you been affected in terms of the way you write the music, the way you have been eager to be in front of audiences yourself?
DURACK: Yes, and no, I think, I think the live performance aspect of it, it's not my favorite. I do get really nervous. Um, but that's also the point like, it's like, I'm there to share. I write to share it. So, when the pandemic hit and I didn't have a stage anymore, I kind of lost my will to do it. I was like, "What's the point you know?" Which you know, sparked a whole inward journey of self discovery. And then I realized that I started doing this because I liked to do it, and I'll always like to do it and I'll do it forever, even if no one's listening. But, it's very nice to be in front of people and for it to connect, because that's the beautiful thing about music and art, is being able to really connect on a deeper level than you know, conversation allows.
GOLDSTEIN: Well you set it up for me with that self discovery. Did any of that self discovery end up on some of your recent songs?
DURACK: Yes, absolutely. Like I've hit an intense writer's block through the pandemic, and then I, you know, struck gold. It feels like I've been writing, and it's all been very, you know, inward and like reflection and processing events and emotions of the last two years or so.
GOLDSTEIN: And finally, take us out on a song. It's great talking to you, but take us out on a song as we close this out.
DURACK: OK, that's a new song. Its working title is "Moon Song."
