Album Notes

Joseph Davancens composes songs that explore people's connection with their natural surroundings, their history, and each other. Born and raised in California's gold country, the area's wild and idyllic landscape provided a young Davancens with plenty of fodder for an active imagination. He began piano lessons at age eight and picked up the bass guitar at thirteen and upon discovering jazz, took on the double bass as well. Hours of practice and playing experience in the nearby Sacramento music scene brought him to the Manhattan School Of Music, where he earned a degree in Jazz Performance.
While studying in New York and feeling restricted by the traditions and formalities of jazz music, Davancens began expanding his interests, absorbing classical composition techniques, digital sound manipulation, folk and blues guitar playing and singing, and psychedelic rock. He began recording songs in his dorm room with a computer with pirated software and a minidisc microphone and continued the process after graduation, upgrading gear and working out stylistic kinks. With a strong collection of songs, Davancens formed a group featuring friends from other collaborations (The Magic Caravan, Rider) and released the self-produced EP Acorns at the end of 2006.