Dan Michaelson Releasing First Light
4th December 2017
Dan Michaelson will release his new solo album First Light through The state51 Conspiracy on 8th December. Michaelson’s first album away from his band The Coastguards since 2011, First Light has been described by Uncut as ‘a fully realized collection of beautiful songs’, drawing comparisons to Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen and Richard Hawley. Working closely with orchestral arranger Arnulf Lindner, aka Skeleton Key, the new album focuses on the every day first moment of consciousness before past, future, cynicism and memory come into focus. Though considered by Michaelson to be "the most unpleasant moment of any day" the opportunity to write at this time became the working practice for the record and, as the writing progressed, reflection on those moments informed the songs further. As well as soundtracking the third season of the BAFTA-winning BBC series Detectorists, starring Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones, Michaelson is currently scoring Stephanie Wang-Breal's feature length documentary Blowin' Up, the story of an innovative human trafficking court in Queens, N.Y, the film follows the compassionate judge who runs it and the women who pass through its doors every day.