Daniel Janke Album

from What's Up Yukon, April 6, 2022

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Manus Hopkins is a Whitehorse- and Toronto-based journalist, musician and lover of heavy metal and cats.

OLD SONGS, NEW COLLECTION

Prolific composer Daniel Janke has unveiled a new album of original songs from over the years

Daniel Janke primarily works as a composer. The nowYukoner, by way of Ontario and Alberta, has been involved in a whopping number of projects throughout his career, writing music for everything from stage to film. He doesn’t write music for himself to sing, all that often, but his latest studio effort, Songs of Small Resistance, features a host of songs he wrote for various projects presented in a new setting— as a solo album.

“It’s a collection of songs that I’ve written over quite a number of years, that I’ve mostly written for other people to sing, for television or theatre or film,” he said. “I decided a couple years ago to try and put together some recordings of the songs with myself singing, just because I wanted to do that.”

Janke released Songs of Small Resistance, last summer, after working on the record in-between other projects for quite some time. In addition to a digital release, the album is available on vinyl at several local businesses, including Road Dogs Music Supply, Triple J’s and Mac’s Fireweed Books.

“It started out a number of years ago, but never really got finished until COVID lockdown time, which seemed like the right time to finish it,” said Janke.

Despite the songs on Songs of Small Resistance all being from different times and places, Janke said they fit together well as a cohesive record, and he made sure to handpick songs that would do so. There were many other songs from throughout his career he could have included but chose not to, as they wouldn’t really fit, he said.

“They all have the same kind of sensibility,” he said. “They all hold together in a setting.”

To Janke, there’s something different about picking up and putting on a vinyl record that just can’t be replicated by a digital copy of an album. He even said he felt like a kid at Christmas when he got the vinyl copies of Songs of Small Resistance.

“My first album ever was on vinyl, so it’s cool to go back to it,” he said. “The vinyl package is so sweet. It just reminded me why I like this so much.”

One song on the record, “There’s a Train Coming,” was written and recorded for a theatre production, two decades ago, and features the late Aylie Sparks on guitar. Janke wanted to update the song, but it was important to him to keep his late friend’s parts as a way to honour him. The entire track, save for the tuba and Sparks’ guitar, was scrapped and re-recorded.

“We thought it was just a really nice tribute to Aylie,” said Janke. “He played so great on it, and it was such a great pleasure working with him.”

While Janke did have a release concert planned for February, he’s had to put that plan on indefinite hold to wait out the Yukon’s COVID situation. He is hoping to do a launch concert and some touring behind the album, but is happy to promote the vinyl release in the meantime. Between word of mouth, help from local businesses and some positive reviews in vinyl publications, he’s been getting the word out there and surprising people who are familiar with his previous work but haven’t heard him sing much.

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” he said. “I am a composer, and I didn’t perform much anyway.”

Despite his plans to perform and tour being put on hold, Janke has no shortage of work ahead of him. He’s still composing for multiple upcoming projects, as well as collaborating with other musicians from as far away as Paris and Barcelona. To keep up with Janke, visit www.danieljanke.com, and to listen to or purchase Songs of Small Resistance, head over to danieljanke.bandcamp.com.

“I just love the idea of sitting down and making something out of nothing and trying to create a musical language every time,” said Janke. “This album is special because, when I finally collected all these songs together and listened to them, it was a pleasant surprise.” n