Dan Layus, of Augustana fame, released Friday via the Wall Street Journal his debut as a solo artist, the folk-infused “Dangerous Things.” Layus, who currently lives in Nashville, recorded the songs at SouthxSea Studios, inviting Muscle Shoals’ The Secret Sisters to provide harmonies. The result is an organic offering built around Layus’ quavering confessional: “I was born for chasing storms, I think I love the pain / cause I can’t help playing with, playing with dangerous things.”
“I always knew this album was out there waiting, I just had to let it come to me,” Layus says in a release. “That was the most challenging part of this record. It was three years of repeatedly realizing I was trying too hard to write a perfect song. It all started to make sense and feel good as soon as I stopped treating songwriting like it was songwriting. Somewhere along the way I decided that if an idea was going to turn into a song on this album, then it had to be written organically and purely. It had to be an inspired moment that was unfolding melodically, musically and lyrically, all while making me feel something. Subsequently, that’s how I recorded the songs—I played the song live a few times in front of some microphones and when I felt something real happen, we moved onto the next one. The songs and recordings on this album are inspired by other people’s stories and informed by my own experiences and I’ve never felt more proud or comfortable sharing an album as I feel with this one.”
Dangerous Things Track Listing:
1. Dangerous Things (feat. The Secret Sisters)
2. Driveway
3. Four Rings (feat. The Secret Sisters)
4. You Can Have Mine (feat. The Secret Sisters)
5. Only Gets Darker (feat. The Secret Sisters)
6. Call Me When You Get There
7. Let Me Lose You
8. Fell In Love On A Beach
9. Destroyer
10. Enough For You
11. The Nightbird (feat. The Secret Sisters)