‘All the Same’ is the latest single from Drew Danburry’s current project, Icarus Phoenix, and it comes with another poignant and beautiful animation, hand-drawn by the musician himself across countless index cards.
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, barber, skateboarder, filmmaker, animator and much more, Danburry covers a lot of creative ground. With over four hundred songs released across twenty albums in a twenty year career, he is certainly productive. He is also quite brilliant.
He already has a number of loyal fans here at AUK and a search on the site will give you an insight into his turbulent life and his struggle to keep working, keep releasing music, pay the bills, provide a roof over his family’s head and put food on the table. Nobody could hear his story and think it’s easy. In this song, he asks the question, “When I find myself in suffering, when I find myself in pain // Am I guilty of dishonour? Can I find another way?” Happily, despite the constant pressure to hang up his guitar and find an easier path to making a living, Danburry has resisted the temptation to find another way. It is a testament to his strength as an artist that not only does he keeps going, he keeps getting better and better.
Danburry describes ‘All the Same’ as being the song on the new album that involved the most collaborative writing with the band. Recognising that shared involvement in the writing process might be the reason he spent more time mastering this track than any other song on the forthcoming album. He certainly regards it as one of his personal favourites. If the rest of the album is anywhere near this good, he doesn’t have anything to worry about.
A little like his music, the apparent simplicity of Danburry’s animation is deceptive but, make no mistake, he is a fine animator. Had he strayed off his chosen musical path, he might have carved out a career in animation: he has that rare and special ability to capture a wide range of human emotions with a few deft lines of pen on paper, while confidently leading the viewer through a complex, enigmatic love story as it navigates obstacles and crisis. Danburry credits editor Vince Roque for having a key role in pulling this animation together. However, it’s no surprise to discover that Danburry’s animation talent has already been recognised outside the music world, with his promos screening at numerous animation festivals around the world.
‘All the Same’ is taken from the forthcoming second album from his Icarus Phoenix project, titled ‘No Tree Can Grow to Heaven Unless Its Roots Reach Down to Hell’. It will be available on cassette tape or download from here or here.
Danburry’s work – both the music and the animation – is beautiful, insightful and movingly personal. This is an artist worthy of your support. So what are you waiting for?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHrjrhVScKI
