Ronk’s Neighborhood

DANIEL RAPHAEL

Biography 11th January 2009

'The sky was raining jellyfish and I was scared of getting stung’

You hear a young artist expressing great passion, sometimes aggressive, sometimes romantic, but most of the time fascinatingly confusing.
But is not easy to stick a label anywhere here.
So here is Daniel. Don’t even try to think ‘make of him what you will’, because quite frankly, you can’t.

Listen to the self composed songs. One minute you’re in late-teenage angst, the next in a very deep well of emotions for which anyone who has an ounce of humour and musical feeling would still feel confused. So in that sense, he’s probably achieved what most young artists would die for. I expected to meet an ‘I can have it all - gonna be a superstar!’ type. So wrong. Daniel is like the teenager from a different planet. He’s calm, cool, intelligent and very articulate, nevertheless wild and free in expression with an underlying belief in his own fantasy. All of his songs reflect deep dark caverns of emotion and manic energy, all performed with complete personal conviction.

He released his first EP early in 2008 since when there has been no let-up whatsoever, and has now released his first single ‘Mozaic’. Daniel says: “I wanted to write a song in the same way artists paint a picture” The concept of the music video was his own, literally throwing 20 litres of acrylic paints on to white walls! Shot on location at Bronte Beach, Sydney, the clip just took 4 hours, “and just as well”, Daniel says. “three months on, the paint is still glued to my hair!” I found the song throwing energy in all directions, rather like the paint! very catchy and something that will buzz back at you several times in the day when you have heard it just once. Daniel’s determination to succeed with his music is infinite. And still just 18 years old.

Dangerously youthful or ethereally confused? Throw me a line, I still haven’t a clue, listen to the music. Over to you.