Danny Peck makes a creative leap forward with his boldly revolutionary new album Where Hope Goes, Fear Follows — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The latest instrumental offering from the prolific electronica artist and programmer is not only his most dynamic, multi-faceted and fully realized work to date; it might also also his most personal — and not just because he’s working under his own name instead of his usual aliases like dep and A Defiant Heart.
“Where Hope Goes, Fear Follows is about starting over,” says Peck. “It’s about growing older and facing one’s intensifying thoughts around legacy and mortality. I made this while going through a lot of changes in my life, and honestly it’s also a lifetime culmination of my own creative process.
“I released a lot of albums, dozens of them, across many different monikers. I collaborated with other creative friends and professions as well. I always eventually found myself back in the studio alone. It really has always been therapy for me. That’s why for the new album I’m wanting to return to releasing music under my own name, Danny Peck. It’s about stripping away the masks.”
Since the early ’90s, Peck has merged the roles of scientist and musician, actively producing musical works while researching the physics of music. A software developer and engineer, Peck always had a keen interest in how music is engineered, developing his expertise to the point where he gave a TEDx lecture in 2012 on The Anatomy of Electronic Music. Interestingly enough, Where Hope Goes, Fear Follows, finds him bravely eschewing all this science and concepts.
“My wife and I moved to a small town in Michigan, and I decided, by both necessity and intuition, that it was time to start over,” he recalls. “I built my studio from the ground up, replaced all of my existing software, started over with new hardware and equipment. I kept my trusty Korg piano keyboard, but everything else was a complete reinvention.”
Reading Peck’s musing about the process of how Where Hope Goes, Fear Follows was created, one understand how truly daunting an undertaking this album must have been, and how apt the title truly is. Listening to the finished product, however, most will be able to see and hear why it was the right step for Peck. Still containing his trademark lush sound design and intricate composition, there is something more wild and free about this album, and, for an artist who’s done so much, this has become a seminal work. Peck has conquered the fear and taken his sound to a new level. To quote the man himself, he “aims this musical arrow directly at the listener’s heart.”
Listen to Where Hope Goes, Fear Follows below, watch the animated video for the title track above, and meet up with Danny Peck on his website and Twitter.
