Bittersweet
A Labor Of Love
Photographs By Rick Perez
Los Angeles musician D A N I E opens up about making music with her father, being featured in the Doc Martens documentary, and her EP, ‘Bittersweet’.
Los Angeles, USA
Who is Danie and what is your music all about?
Danie is a Mexican American multi faceted artist, born and raised in Los Angeles,Ca. I strive to be sonically infinite, and I create completely intuitively.
My music represents the obstacles and overall experiences I face throughout my life.
You recently released your EP, "Bittersweet". What is the EP about? What story are you trying to tell?
Bittersweet is my pandemic baby, my debut record as Danie, and a massive labor of love that definitely took a village to bring to life.
It's my grieving process, my anxiety, my therapy, that era of my life captured sonically which was literally a Bittersweet time.
The title was also inspired by one of my Dads old gospel bands also called "Bittersweet Gospel Band". It just resonated as the title.
I had already been pursuing music as the driving force of my previous project "Welfair" since 2012, and really solidified Welfair sonically as an R&B, Hip Hop, Soul project.
The pandemic hit immediately after Welfair's last EP "Recreational" dropped in Jan 2020, and luckily I was able to still have the record release show for it.
Along with everyone else, the pandemic terrified me, and put a lot of things into perspective.
I didn't want to hide behind a stage name, and I wanted to use the pandemic as an opportunity to start over, and dig deeper into my artistry as Danie.
The majority of the Bittersweet EP was tracked live at True Sound Recording Studio, with some very talented musicians and friends of mine who graciously lent their time and talent on my birthday weekend this past Summer. (Special thanks too: Fabian Marquez of Twin Seas, Kyle Davis of Soulocust, Moi Rivera of Tetra Collective, Juan Moreno Flores of Changüí Majadero, Jose Cano of Las Cafeteras, Luis Alonso Portillo of Innerwave, Alejandro Aguilar of Shiiva/Captain Smooth Talk, Jonathan Gilad of Crumb, William Logan, Jason Zepeda, Jose Cruz of Twin Seas/Innerwave/True Sound, and Art Zavala Jr of True Sound) For Bittersweets' recording session, I alternated between playing synth leads and chords on various keyboards.
For the track "No Lookin Away", I randomly recorded and played/programmed everything myself on an Instagram Live, on a Summer 2020 afternoon in my bedroom.
Jonathan Gilad of Crumb later played live drums on that specific track.
"I Don't Know Why" was recorded in 2 parts. The bass was tracked live in Los Angeles Ca by Jose Cruz, along with William Logan on drums, and percussion by Jason Zepeda.
The other half of "I Don't Know Why" was recorded in Rosarito MX with myself on lead vocals, my Dad Francisco Espinoza on guitar/back vocals, and Jose Cruz on keys.
How does "Bittersweet" show your growth as an artist?
I usually write alone in my bedroom home studio, and every time is different. Sometimes I'll start with programming drums first and just build the cake from there.
Other times I'll start with a synth line idea. Sometimes I'll already have a vocal melody in my head and use my ears to figure out how the music should sound to accommodate it.
With Bittersweet, first off I am already stepping out of my comfort zone with the name change and it obviously felt necessary to do. I am also singing in English and Spanish which I never thought I’d do let alone or be able to write, but I'm doing it! I also really wanted to play live with a band. So writing some of the songs was out of jamming with my friends and a collaborative effort which I have never really done before either. For the first time almost everything was tracked live, which meant the guys and I really had to lock in together. It was intense, sweaty, a little stinky, but overall a very tight experience. There were about 8 of us in a closed room during a pandemic which is nuts to think about. It took a lot of trust all around. I have so much love and respect for those guys, and of course the recording session was a blast. I surprised myself a ton during the making of this record.
There was a moment where I looked around the room and thought to myself, "Damn, I really am the only woman in here."
As far as inspiration, I was really inspired by a chunk of my childhood’s soundtrack. I grew up in East La just off the iconic Whittier Blvd.
Because of my older siblings, especially my oldest sibling who was my brother, I grew up exposed to the 90's Chicano, G-Funk, and Oldies culture (but not limited too).
I have more siblings with very eclectic music tastes. I was also heavily inspired by my dad's music. His music was very much a fusion of Chicano Rock & Soul, Blues, Funk, and Gospel.
Some artists/groups who definitely inspired this record but again not limited to were Santana, Joe Bataan,Tierra, War, Ralfi Pagan, Thee Midniters, & Oldies.
But I also wanted to have a Doors moment, a Steely Dan moment, a Badu 90s R&B moment etc cause fuck it. Art.
I was exposed to all kinds of music by all of my siblings so in the end ,I know everything I make is always going to be a fusion.
Art and especially music is a place for me where anything is possible, because that's how my relationship to music has always been since my beginning of my time.
What were some difficulties while making this EP? What were some memorable moments?
There were a ton of difficult moments throughout the process of making Bittersweet.
To be completely transparent I lost my brother in May of 2021, right in the middle of making this record.
I'm always going to be destroyed from the loss, and he is subject matter for some lyrics, and even sounds that were chosen for the record.
This is definitely where True Sounds comes into play. A ton of vintage equipment, reel to reel tape, and mics were used to really capture the authentic tones etc that I wanted for this Bittersweet EP. So again, an immense thanks to those literal true sound wizards Jose Cruz and Art Zavala Jr. over at True Sound. I started writing the record when my brother was alive, connected with him more during the pandemic, and also lost him. Along with a lot of other obstacles that I won't get into, they all came piling down and the timing of it altogether was just a nightmare. I wholeheartedly believe my love for him and my family carried me through actually being able to finish the damn record. I'll always be sad he never got to hear it.
But I am ecstatic with the way the record turned out as a whole. It's all still so crazy to me. Making this record was so painful, but a very cathartic and therapeutic experience for me.
Some memorable moments were experiencing and writing “Ginger Pond”. That track was specifically inspired by a gorgeous place I visited in Hawaii shortly after my brother passed.
It was the only time I felt some type of peace at such a dark time. Also getting to connect with my dad on a musical level for the first time in my life I can't even articulate about.
I had never recorded with him let alone ever sang in front of him. I went to Mexico and tracked with him over a weekend in March 2020 just days before everything shut down including the borders. We recorded it just in the knick of time. My birthday is June 21st, and every other year it falls on Father's Day.
The original plan was to release “I Don’t Know Why” on Father’s Day 2020.
Out of respect for it not being relevant with the BLM protests that were taking place at the time, I held off on releasing it for about a year.
I then released it the following May of 2021 and had no problem holding off. The song would have come off completely tone deaf to the current climate. It just wasn't the time.
However I was able to release "I Don't Know Why" the live acoustic version, on Father's Day 2021 which was super special for my Dad & I.
So that live acoustic version that's out streaming, is literally us performing live on the beach on a sunny day in Rosarito. It was beautiful.
Lastly of course, tracking the majority of Bittersweet live was immensely special to me along with everyone involved, who will now always be a part of this record.
You were featured in the Doc Martens mini-documentary about the Latinx Indie music scene in Los Angeles. How did this happen? What was your experience like?
Shout out to Ambar Navarro for pitching me into the mix of a male dominated space, as well as Collide. The folks at Dr Martens dug me I guess and I was included which is amazing.
I honestly don't know how this happened, but I'm extremely grateful to them for the opportunity. Especially because every single artist that was chosen are homies of mine which is super sick.
They also used my self filmed "I Don't Know Why" docu series footage, which means my dad made a cameo in this and got to be in it too! haha. Love that for us.
You also made the "IDK Why Docu-series" that takes us behind the scenes of your creative process. What inspired you to create this?
How did these two documentaries help you discover yourself as an artist?
Again I had never done anything like this with my dad before, so I wanted to document it for myself to be honest. My dad lives in Mexico. So unfortunately I don't see him as often as I'd like too. Especially with balancing a 9-5 and a self managed music career. He's also in his mid 60's. I've definitely learned you just never know you know? So I just really wanted to make sure I milked the moment and soaked everything up as much as I could. WIth the pandemic we all had a ton of time on our hands so I thought it'd be a cool idea as part of the roll out process of the single, to drop weekly episodes of the bts footage from our session. I have some video editing chops and a go pro, so I just used what I had to document it. So now I have an organized little series instead of just a bunch of random footage in my hard drive. Although there is a ton of stuff that didn't make it into my mini doc due to how excruciating editing and life itself can be, I'm still proud of at least getting it done.
What's next for you?
Bittersweet's EP Release Show is coming up on March 11th, 2020 at Highland Park Bowl.
I'll be headlining the night and playing the whole EP live for the first time. I am sharing the bill with amazing artists/homies of mine, Cameo Adele and The Voxes.
It's a free show and 21+, presented by Switchboard Management. Proof of vaccination or negative test results must be shown in order to get in.
I've just been trying to keep my head down and stay creating/inspired. I've already started working on the next body of work.
I'm excited about how things are sounding and what I'm coming up with. Stay tuned for more show dates and hey who knows, maybe even a Summer single.
