Danielson

Vocal group

Music writers have struggled to describe the style of the alternative Christian band Danielson, also known as the Danielson Famile, among several other slightly different names. "They sound like Captain Beefheart's Magic Band joined by the Partridge Family at some roadside revival along the Jersey Turnpike," wrote Jason Nickey of All Music Guide. "Think of a Bible-thumping von Trapp family jamming with Radio-head and a Motown rhythm section," advised Joe Heim of the Washington Post. The strangled but gleeful falsetto of group leader and creator Daniel Smith came in for its own set of outlandish comparisons. Even the designation of Danielson as a Christian band was tentative; Danielson found its fans mostly among fans of experimental rock music rather than among Christian audiences. Unusual as the band's music was, Danielson entered its second decade of existence in the mid-2000s with Smith's creativity undiminished.

Smith was born in Camden, New Jersey, and he and his four siblings grew up in nearby Clarksboro. Smith told Stephen Seigel of Tucson Weekly that their father, Lenny, "left the Catholic church on a spiritual journey to get closer to God" and began singing Christian folk music. "That's the environment we grew up in—it's very much this kind of Jesus hippie movement of the '70s … where it wasn't about a building or a fashion or structure, in terms of typical religious services; it was much more about worship and community and things like that." One of Lenny Smith's hymns, "Our God Reigns," gained wide familiarity among Christians. Like other local teenagers, Daniel Smith also enjoyed secular rock music's punk and progressive genres. All the music blended together in his mind, and he didn't experience a strong tension between sacred and secular.

Enrolling at Rutgers University, Smith majored in art but also wrote music on the side. During his last year at Rutgers, working on a senior thesis project that involved both art and music, Smith often returned home to Clarksboro to strengthen the family ties that had been stretched by his four years away. All these developments came together at the opening of Smith's thesis art show, as he and his siblings performed his music as part of the event. The artwork involved a quilt depicting his family's Subaru station wagon, which, Smith told Barry Schwabsky of the New York Times, "told a story about how God used the car to pull me out of my selfish element and into his selfless element." The family recorded those songs and others Smith had written, and the project evolved into the album A Prayer for Every Hour. An often-repeated legend among Danielson fans holds that Smith turned the album in as his senior thesis and got an A—not untrue, but a condensation of a series of events.

Smith began calling himself Danielson, he told Schwabsky, "to show that I was one of millions of sons and daughters of God." As the family group took shape, it was named the Danielson Famile (pronounced "family"). A Prayer for Every Hour was so called because it had 24 songs, touching on a variety of spiritual themes and ranging in length from 17 seconds to over five minutes. From the start, Danielson's music incorporated a huge variety of elements, including rock guitars, march rhythms, acoustic tunes, bells, flutes, and laughter or chanting from family members, who often functioned as a kind of chorus as well as playing individual instruments. Danielson's music also might include quotations from other songs that disappeared without warning in the texture. It had a sound that was essentially its own, although Smith named the alternative rock band Sonic Youth as one of his major influences.

A Prayer for Every Hour was sent to some 15 labels, but the only one that responded was the Christian label Tooth & Nail. Smith's attitude toward the culture of contemporary Christian music was ambivalent. Though he called himself a Christian, he declined to identify himself as religious, telling Seigel, "I never found religion, to be honest with you. It's a spiritual journey, not a religious journey … but I certainly line myself up with the teachings of Christ." He told Lisa Rose of the Newark (New Jersey) Star-Ledger that "I don't believe in Christian music. The phrase is too general. It has turned into something that means mediocre and watered down." But Danielson's songs dealt with specifically religious themes such as resisting temptation. The Danielson Famile appeared on stage in homemade doctors' and nurses' uniforms intended to symbolize the healing powers of their music; the uniforms had hearts on their sleeves.

Smith took the position that he wanted to make his music available to everyone, but its experimental qualities found only limited enthusiasm among Christian music audiences. David Longenecker of the Christian Music Review Headquarters weighed in with a one-star review of the sophomore Danielson Famile release Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block (1997). He wrote that "to call this 'music' would be an insult to all of the artists who have worked hard to write and record songs." In the innovation-minded environs of New York City, however, Danielson's reputation grew, and in 2000 they appeared at one of New York's temples of alternative rock, the Knitting Factory.

After releasing four albums on Tooth & Nail, Danielson moved to the secular rock label Secretly Canadian for 2001's Fetch the Compass Kids. The Danielson Famile went through various incarnations, rechristening themselves Tri-Danielson for the albums Tri-Danielson, Vol. 1 (Alpha) and Tri-Danielson, Vol. 2 (Omega) (1998–99). Smith sometimes appeared in solo settings as Brother Danielson (attired in a tree suit), and the family experimented with the name Danielsonship; the idea of likening a ship to a spiritual vehicle would play a major role on their 2006 album Ships.

Danielson also expanded over the years from its original family quintet of Daniel, Andrew, Davis, Megan, and Rachel Smith, augmented by friend and keyboardist Chris Palladino. Daniel Smith's wife, Elin, appeared, as did Palladino's wife, and vocalist Sufjan Stevens, who went on to a celebrated solo career in independent rock. Some family members dropped out temporarily along the way. For Ships, Smith gathered a large variety of musicians who had appeared with the group at one time or another, adding Stevens and similarly minded groups such as Half Handed Cloud and Deerhoof hoof for what James Christopher Monger of All Music Guide called "a session to end all sessions." Ships was issued under the name Danielson.

The year 2006 saw the completion of a documentary, Danielson: A Family Movie (Or, Make a Joyful Noise Here), that filmmaker J.L. Aronson had begun five years earlier. "Danielson doesn't really belong to any camp," Aronson told J. Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post. "I saw Daniel say recently in interviews that he's always been too weird for the Christians and too Christian for the weirdos." Nevertheless, by 2006 the band had staked out a small territory of its own lying between Christian music, indie rock, and the distant fringes of collage-type experimentation.

Selected discography

A Prayer for Every Hour, Tooth & Nail, 1996.
Tell Another Joke at the Ol' Choppin' Block, Tooth & Nail 1997.
Tri-Danielson, Vol. 1 (Alpha), Tooth & Nail, 1998.
Tri-Danielson, Vol. 2 (Omega), Tooth & Nail, 1999.
Fetch the Compass Kids, Secretly Canadian, 2001.
Brother Is to Son, Secretly Canadian, 2003.
Ships, Secretly Canadian, 2006.

For the Record …

Members include Daniel Smith, lead vocals and leader; Andrew Smith, vocals; Davis Smith, vocals; Megan Smith, vocals; Rachel Smith, vocals; Chris Palladino, keyboards; Elin Smith (active early 2000s); Sufjan Stevens (active early 2000s).

Formed in 1995 in Clarksboro, NJ, to accompany university senior art project of Daniel Smith; signed to Tooth & Nail label; released debut album, A Prayer for Every Hour, 1996; released three more albums on Tooth & Nail; signed to Secretly Canadian label; released Fetch the Compass Kids, 2001; released Brother Is to Son, 2004; released Ships, 2006.

Addresses: Record company—Secretly Canadian, 1499 W. 2nd St., Bloomington, IN 47403. Website—Danielson Official Website: http://www.danielson.info.

Sources

Periodicals

Guardian (London, England), May 19, 2006, p. 13.

New York Times (New Jersey Weekly ed.), April 16, 2000, p. NJ10.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 21, 2000, p. 10.

Washington Post, March 14, 2001, p. C2; May 6, 2001, p. G2; June 17, 2006, p. C1.

Online

"About," Danielson Official Website, http://www.danielson.info (July 9, 2006).

"Available to Everybody," Tucson Weekly, http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Music/Content?oid=oid:82768 (June 1, 2006).

#x0022;Danielson Famile," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (July 9, 2006).

"Danielson Famile: Tell Another Joke at the Old Choppin' Block," Christian Music Review Headquarters, http:/www.christianmusic.org (July 9, 2006).