WAVES
RE-EMERGING
FROM THE
CHRYSALIS by DESIREE SMITH-DAUGHETY photography by NICOLE CARACIA
M
usician, songwriter, and artist Danah Koch is preparing for a creative week away, leaving behind a pandemic-induced cocoon. She’s following advice given by creatives she admires who recommend shutting oneself in a cabin to write without distraction. That’s in the best of times. Koch confesses to relying on short bursts of inspiration lately, not having written anything in a while that she feels is complete. “I think the pandemic has put a hard stop on that creative mojo at times, so I have to just act immediately when it comes,” she says. “I’ve gotten in the habit of writing down on my phone what’s coming across in my mind without judgment . . . Let[ting] whatever comes through do so.”
24 | Spring 2022
Taming the desire for “everything to be a masterpiece immediately,” she acknowledges that she’s not the only singer and songwriter that feels this way right now. After a period of taking any gig offered to establish herself, Koch already felt that she was burnt out and straying from why she started performing—to connect with people. “I welcomed the reevaluation and stillness and not doing anything at all,” she says. “Now, damn, two years in, and I’m not doing anything! It has not been an easy forced time off.” Hence the cabin retreat. Being open to taking advice has led to opportunities. Koch, who grew up on the Eastern Shore, currently lives on Kent Island. She met various local artists in Annapolis, including Up.St.ART
Annapolis publisher and musician Jimi Davies and Ruben Dobbs of Swampcandy. She recalls talking with Dobbs about songwriting and the struggles of letting it flow. He likened it to turning on the faucet and leaving it on. The water runs brown but will eventually run clear. “That has stuck in my mind, and instead of romanticizing the process of having to be organic, there’s a discipline. Take action, get the habit formed, because inspiration comes. It seems counterintuitive,” she says. Just as oxygen feeds a fire, experiencing live music inspires Koch as a performer. But because live music hasn’t been abundant, recently, she tunes in to her favorite albums to get herself in the headspace necessary to feed her current project, her first solo recording, titled Light from a Dark Room. Previously, she released a six-song EP, Unaddressed with her on-hiatus trio, The Dead Pens. “It was acoustic alternative/edgy coffeehouse,” she says. “I would describe us as unabashedly dark and unapologetically bitter.” In late 2021, Koch caught indie singer-songwriter Noah Gundersen’s show in New York City. He recognized her because she has followed his music releases over the past decade and been in the front row over the last five years at performances. They had a long talk about the creative process and her solo album project. Hearing someone’s art that she admires and then talking to the person behind it is inspiring to her. “What was really cool is
