Dan Greene 1 (2004)
My debut album. The honest, ambivalent truth about love. The best argument for bittersweet optimism. The thinking person's indie wuss-rock.
Recorded solo over five months—in the wee hours, on the weekends, in the very nooks and crannies of time itself—Dan Greene 1 emerged without fanfare, thus without ego. The solid rock record relays a story of a single struggling romance. The first sparks of attraction lead to self-doubt and detachment, but settle in for a wistful, optimistic finale on Hennepin Avenue. All around them, layers of guitars and vocal harmonies embrace.
(2:55 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 4 MB)
I never thought this song was all that great, but I really enjoyed playing the guitar solo in the middle, so I made this the album opener in hopes that people would hear me "shred," then move on to the next track and forget about this song altogether. Mission accomplished.
(4:08 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 5.8 MB)
Probably one of the most straightforward rock songs that I had written, but the sentiment is still there, man. I originally intended this to be a duet between male and female vocalists, until I realized that that was really, really lame—like a karaoke version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."
(3:38 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 5.1 MB)
Sometimes the world is noisy and chaotic and you need someone to calm it all down.
(6:03 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 8.4 MB)
Besides "Orange Man," this song probably has the most layers of guitar on the album. And for some reason, the intro/outro came out sounding very... Medieval. Maybe it's the fake flutes.
(2:54 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 4.1 MB)
I've gotten some surprisingly positive responses to this song, but I don't know why. I thought it was very personal and sounded kind of strange, but I guess more people can relate to the theme or the sentiment than I expected. Hey, I'll take it.
(7:25 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 10.3 MB)
Get comfortable; it's an epic. But it does have sleigh bells in it! And lots of winter imagery.
(2:42 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 3.8 MB)
I struggled with this song on my four-track recorder, on-and-off, for a few years. When I finally went digital, it became much easier (mainly because I didn't have to bouce ten guitar tracks onto one). I like this one.
(3:41 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 5.1 MB)
The title is a nod to Nick Cave's "The Weeping Song," but it really has nothing to do with it beyond that similarity. It's just a sad, contemplative tune, and "The Crying Song" sounds idiotic.
(4:32 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 6.3 MB)
This song had a poppier sound than the rest of them, which I liked, and I was also really pleased with the slight alteration in the final refrain, from "If there's one thing to be said about returning to you," to "If there's one thing to be sad about, returning to you, it's the easiest thing I will ever do." The rest of the lyrics, I can take or leave.
(5:45 | MP3 | 192 kbps | 7.9 MB)
Hennepin Avenue is one of the main thoroughfares in Minneapolis, and as far as thoroughfares go, it's one that I think of most fondly. It struck me as something very profound that my relationship with my future wife had begun, flourished, faltered, then steadied all in mental snapshots set against Hennepin Avenue. So I wrote about it (with slightly more lyricism).
Dan Greene - vocals, guitar, bass, sleigh bells, drum programming, MIDI programming.
Karen Chae - backing vocals.
