Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards
Dan Michaelson is the 33 year-old whisky barrel baritone and short-legged leader of Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards. After his former band Absentee took early retirement due to lack of ego, he decided to start work on a solo album. Following several embarrassing phone calls and the odd spelling mistake, renowned Icelandic producer Valgier Sigurdsson (Bjork, Bonnie”Prince”Billy, Sigur Ros) came over to stay in Dan’s London home, the pair of them making the daily trip to Hackney’s solar powered Premises Studios to record and produce the tracks Michaelson had written.
Enlightened by the results, and quickly realizing that the songs allowed for the subtle touches of a few more hands, Dan created the Coastguards, quietly fooling some of London’s most talented players into working with him. Among those appearing on that first record were: Henry (from the band Fields), Arnulf (KT Tunstall), Tom & Henry (Rumblestrips), Romeo Stodart (Magic Numbers), Steven Adams (Broken Family Band/Singing Adams) plus Valgier himself playing various parts of the piano. The culmination of these efforts was called Saltwater, and was released on the Memphis Industries label in March 2009. Many cold hearted men and women warmed up for a while and said very kind things about Saltwater. Phrases that read like this:
“Your ears naturally tune into Michaelson’s skill at putting words to the parts of relationships that usually stay silent. The cruel asymmetry of romance is addressed exquisitely, recalling the resigned grandeur of the Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster “ **** The Times
“impressive – comes on like Smog fronting the songs of Ed Harcourt” Uncut
“an intensely felt and sparsely drawn study of the beginnings and ends of relationships” **** Time Out
“Spellbinding, genuinely heartbreaking songs.” The Quietus
“A set of frighteningly good songs” **** The Stool Pigeon
“A voice deeper and darker than most extended overdrafts – Michaelson is on endearingly poetic form” NME
“An outstanding collection of quirky and bare to the bones songs” 8/10 Rocksound
“Michaelson gets as close to a prodigy of Leonard Cohen as is tastefully possible. I’m spellbound” Plan B
“A complete killer” Artrocker
Egos inflated by such words and murmurs, The Coastguards took to touring for the rest of 2009, combining headline tours with support duties for The Magic Numbers, The Dodos, Duke Special, The Leisure Society, and The Broken Family Band amongst others. As the tours rolled on into the end of the year, a core group of Coastguards emerged through a combination of enthusiasm and pure, old-fashioned stubbornness. Inevitably, and much to Dan’s surprise and happiness, the solo project gradually grew back into a band. Those Coastguards, namely Henry Spenner (Drums), Laurie Earle (Piano/Guitar), Sanjay Mitra (Bass), and Horse (Pedal Steel/Guitar) began work on a second record in January 2010.
Produced by Dan Michaelson, nine songs recorded in the first half of 2010 make up the new album Shakes, due for release on Dan’s own screen-printed, limited release label Editions on October 4th 2010. Inspired in equal parts by soul and country classic song writers, the now familiar territory of his subject matter, and the people who helped make this record, Shakes ushers in a fresh take on the humble love song, and draws a clean line in the dust kicked up by Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards.
