PureVolume

dan cluchey is a first-year student at harvard law school. he's just here looking for kicks.


dan - martin acoustic 000-15, takamine acoustic/electric EF 325, deering goodtime banjo, fender mandolin, hohner marine band harmonica, piano, angelic vocals


lyrics are available under the 'playlist' tab, or by listening very closely to the songs and writing down the words you hear.



***updates***
6/29 - i don't come here often anymore, but i did drop by to post the first four tracks off of my upcoming sophomore album. give them a listen and then join the rest of the free world on facebook, where i keep things more or less up to date. thank you.

3/27 - recorded and posted the first track of my second album ('the way we whir'), called 'their dear bright selves.' i'll hopefully be recording as though it were my job (which is really not a stretch at all at the moment) for the next few months, and would like to have the album finished by late summer... of course, this is all contingent on me actually writing some more songs. as i record, i'll get them up here and on my facebook fan page (join it). DON'T FORGET TO BUY MY FIRST ALBUM, 'THE BLOOD SUPPLY,' ON iTUNES THIS INSTANT. i love you.

1/22(/09!) - it has been quite a long time since i last posted on here or even visited the site, sadly (for me). i've spent the fall and winter recording my first full-length album, 'the blood supply,' which is available for download at www.cdbaby.com/cd/cluchey. in about a week, you will also be able to download it directly from itunes and amazon.com. as it appears i will be a full time student for at least the next few years, for now i won't be updating this site with much regularity. you can hear the entirety of the new album by visiting (or becoming a fan of) my facebook page -- just search for 'dan cluchey' in facebook. this spring and summer, i'll be working on -- get this -- my second full length album, tentatively titled 'the way we whir.' stay tuned. as always, i love getting feedback and speaking with other songwriters/songlikers. shoot me a message here (although i might not check it often), on facebook (i'm the dan cluchey who does not play high school football (anymore)), or at danielcluchey@gmail.com.

8/26 - recorded 'big big world' anew and posted it yonder. join the dan cluchey facebook page.

8/21 - recorded 'a map of the world' on my new equipment; i think it sounds significantly better than the old version of two years ago. it's up there if you'd like to listen. percussion was achieved by me beating on the back cover of 'old tippecanoe,' freeman cleaves' 1939 biography of william henry harrison, which was inexplicably on my bookshelf. more songs to come! join the dan cluchey facebook page.

8/20 - so, my account has expired. i don't think i'm going to renew it, at least not now (while I'm unemployed). i'm allowed to keep four songs up for free, so what i think i'll do is keep uploading newly recorded songs to this site in case people want to download them, while maintaining a larger list of songs available for listen on my facebook music page. just go on facebook and search my name to listen. this fall will be the fall of many recordings, i swear it. i have posted a new song this morning, called 'solus rex.'

6/6 - posted a new song, called 'widow maker.' i have recently made some massive upgrades to my recording equipment, the (hopeful) result being higher quality recordings in the future. ever the opposite of a bear, i'll be in hibernation for the summer, but upon emerging in mid-august i hope to devote a lot of my time to recording the many new songs that i've been neglecting these past months. i'm fairly certain that my account will expire during that time; if you absolutely must listen to my music, please visit my artist page on facebook by searching for 'dan cluchey:' you may listen there.

3/11 - last night i recorded a cover of the song 'true affection,' the first single off of portland-based (oregon, not the real portland) band the blow's 2006 album, 'paper television.' the song is posted up on the right side of the screen. see if you can spot all the tracks: acoustic guitar w/ wah-wah, vocals, keyboard, me snapping my fingers, dulcimer synth, vibrastrap, gunshot, pan flute, sound of a bird singing.

2/12 - posted a recording of the song 'olivia's waltz,' which will be featured in new york filmmaker nathan austin's upcoming film, 'tomasek.' the song is only about seventy-nine seconds long due to the fact that it was written specifically for the film and meant to cover a particular timespan. it features the immense talent of andy tew on the cello; i cover the guitar, piano, woodblock, and vocals. take a listen, and be sure to check out 'tomasek' when it inevitably turns up in nyc-area film festivals.

12/16 - i recorded 'instead of sleep' anew in response to the poor quality of the last version, and have also posted a cover of 'jersey city,' which in turn is a cover of the traditional song 'the butcher boy.' the version you hear was adapted lyrically from the standard tune by my music teacher, tim eriksen (frontman of the punk band 'cordelia's dad'), and adapted musically by me. additionally, i recorded an acoustic version of 'who will buy,' written by lionel bart for the musical 'oliver.'

12/5 - tonight i recorded a very rough cut of a song i wrote about a week ago, over two nights, very very late at night. longtime listeners will notice that, compared to a number of my other songs, it resides in a very different place on the happy mood vs. wistful-plaintive-longing-contemplative mood continuum. i'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again, but i can't actually promise anything. listen if you'd like: it's called 'instead of sleep' and it's up there on the right as we speak.

11/10 - ugh. bored. i've posted a song that got written sporadically between mid-may and earlier tonight; i'd tried recording it at various points and incarnations but it never sounded right to me -- truth be told, it still doesn't -- and in thinking about it tonight i got so fed up that i just did it in one take to get it out of my system. there are recording problems, and, you know, human error. not the song i'm proudest of, by any stretch, but a song nonetheless, and it's called 'leave no trace.' look up, right, if you want to listen to it.

10/27 - recorded another song that i wrote for my songwriting class, called 'the good fight.' it was my first take, and it started raining outside my window about 2 minutes in (you can hear it), so maybe i'll record a more polished version at some point; i just wanted to get something up here for the sake of getting something up here.

9/25 - wrote & recorded a new tune for my songwriting course, and have posted it not far to the northeast of this sentence; it's called 'the telling one.'

7/29 - i've relaunched the site (in all its glory). i've added one new song, called 'big big world,' and remastered/rerecorded several that were already up: 'no new loves,' 'fun with a purpose,' and the 'trials and troubles,' 'go ahead,' 'heard somebody say,' and 'cassidy' covers. my hope is to get a number of new songs recorded before heading back to school on august 21st, including originals 'leave no trace,' 'kiwi vanilla,' and 'the quickening,' and a cover of the silver jews' 'trains across the sea.' i'll keep you posted.

7/17 - acch, so my membership expired. it will be back, though, once i've recorded some new tracks... it will be back and it will be new and it will be glorious. stay tuned, children.

7/3 - i'm planning on going on a recording binge this week, as i haven't recorded anything new in a long while and i have a bit of free time. i got my equipment back up and running last night, and to get back in the habit i recorded and posted a pretty loose, first take cut of a song i wrote ages ago but never got around to recording before ('he may never dive again'). i stole the title from a red cross water safety poster i saw; it's kind of a downer (the song... and the poster). more to come soon, je promets.

4/4 - today i had a moment of free time, so i recorded a cover of a song i like very much: 'go ahead' by rilo kiley. it's just one track of banjo and voice, plus a keyboard for the second verse and bridge and a drum synth. it's up there on the right if you want to listen.

2/7 - i spent yesterday and today screwing around with a synth, and things got a little out of hand. the result is the devendra banhart cover i just posted (look up, then look right). tired, and having fun with layering and looping, i slapped together a keyboard track, an acoustic guitar track, a vocal synth loop, several drum fills, some scattered electric piano and synth fills, and a vocals track. needless to say, it's a bit of a novelty act at this point. i've also re-recorded 'no new loves' and posted it, as the first version i put up there was beginning to strike me as slow and unwieldy.

2/5 - i am recording again. sometime in the next couple of days, i will be replacing 'no new loves' with a version i think of as crisper (and shorter), as well as finishing up a cover of devendra banhart's 'heard somebody say' featuring me getting my hands on an instrument i do not play whatsoever (my roommate's keyboard) as well as guitar, banjo, and synth. in the next few weeks, be on the lookout for three new originals -- two songs i wrote last year and never got around to recording ('he may never dive again,' and 'the quickening' on mandolin) as well as one in the works tentatively titled 'best supporting actress.' somewhere in between i half-promise to record covers of tom brosseau's 'how to grow a woman from the ground,' leslie feist's 'secret heart,' and the traditional blues harp song 'c.c. rider.'

1/24 - the site informs me that i topped 15,000 plays this morning, which is both humbling and curious. i will be posting brand new songs once i'm completely germ free and back to my recording weight -- that's a promise.

1/13 - i finished writing a song today and recorded it. it's called 'no new loves' and is about four inches northeast of this sentence.

1/08 - ok, i've completely revamped the site, taking everything down and beginning anew. i've posted twenty-six songs on the right, including fourteen originals and twelve covers. six of the tracks were recorded during my most recent performance on amherst college radio (wamh), while the other twenty were recorded at home on a tascam us-122 mixer. in the next couple of days i will hopefully be adding two more original songs, one which is old and one which is so brand new that it is literally not yet complete. those of you who visited this site in past years might have noticed that a number of original songs that used to be up here are now gone; i still have them, but i don't want them up here anymore, so if there was one you were particularly attached to let me know and i can send it to you or just come visit you and play it. i will try to attend to this site more regularly now that my recording equipment is working again. whether you know me or not, i always appreciate your comments on this music.








all songs written and performed by dan cluchey
copyright 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

except 'good times,' written by jim o'rourke
copyright 2001 jim o'rourke/drag city records

'gulf shores,' 'west palm beach,' 'no bad news,' and 'love comes to me,' written by will oldham
copyright 1997, 2006 bonnie 'prince' billy/drag city records/palace records

'if it makes you happy,' written by sheryl crow
copyright 1996 sheryl crow/a&m records

'trials and troubles,' written by ketch secor and willie watson
copyright 2004 old crow medicine show/nettwerk records

'go ahead,' written by jenny lewis and blake sennett
copyright 2001 rilo kiley/barsuk records

'true affection,' written by khaela maricich
copyright 2006 the blow/k records

'jersey city,' lyrics by tim eriksen, music by dan cluchey
copyright 1995 cordelia's dad/omnium records

'heard somebody say,' written by devendra banhart
copyright 2005 devendra banhart/xl records

'bird stealing bread' and 'cinder and smoke,' written by samuel beam
copyright 2002, 2004 iron & wine/subpop records

'who will buy?' written by lionel bart
copyright 1960 lionel bart

and 'cassidy,' written by bob weir and john barlow
copyright 1981 the grateful dead/rhino records