Music
Press
By: Sheena Lyonnais
When Morgan David described his music “like Fatboy Slim and Bob Dylan went out and raved 'till dawn” on his Myspace page he wasn’t being vain. He is a man in control of his domain, which is especially impressive considering the construction of his techno influenced rock was years in the making.
Active in the techno community, Morgan is a mixer by day and, well, also a mixer by night. Gigging is something he began only last year, but his music has been recognized as unique and fascinating ever since. Although the acoustics in the Drake during his Indie Week performance made the bass overwhelming, the ambiance and mood of the music, combined with his comical in-between song banter made Morgan’s set one of the most enchanting to watch.
“I built the sound around my voice,” Morgan said. “It took me a while to come up with a concept because I'm a baritone singer and I don’t have what you would call the rock and roll voice, and I always found it kind of tough. Eventually I created a concept around my voice: loopy, electronic stuff.”
The onstage set differs from a lot of contemporary Toronto artists, but is something that is becoming increasingly popular in music: meshing DJing and rock into a pot of electronic brilliance. On stage he is joined by his band, and together they incorporate beats from laptops, mixers and synthesizers into conventional rock instrumentation.
The band has been playing shows across the city and is currently working on an album. For the most part people are discovering Morgan David through his Myspace page and they are approaching him for shows.
“My goal is to finish the album, and even [Indie Week] came as sort of a shock - they found me. I find a lot of people, because I am doing something different, a lot of people have just found me,” Morgan said.
This extends into this professional mixing life too. Morgan has had bootleg mixes of Sam Roberts’ “Brother Down” played on radio and has been approached by big names in the industry like Toronto’s Gavin Bradley.
“Gavin has done a lot of remixes (Dido, Tori Amos, etc) and he heard my bootleg remix of Brother Down and he went to find out who it was and got me to play and I did production on an album,” Morgan said. “I ended up doing a lot of work with him. He’s sort of a local kindred spirit in what I do.”
Morgan David will be announcing some more concert dates soon, but first is focusing on completing the album, which will be out in February. The album was pushed back both because he is doing it independently and also due to getting the right people. For now music can be found both at:
www.myspace.com/morgandavidmusic
www.myspace.com/morgandavidremix
- TorontoMusicScene.ca
"Unlike his speaking voice, he sings in a deep baritone, making good use of a vocoder to add subtle angelic harmonies without giving in to any of the Cher and Daft Punk clichés."
- NOW Magazine, Toronto
Discography
In Studio recording debut album
Demo versions available from either morgandavid.com or www.myspace/morgandavidmusic
Photos
Bio
Morgan David got started in Techno during the late 90's, producing tracks with other Toronto DJ's. After years of knob twiddling as the electronic music wiz for Montreal's violin prodigy Dr Draw, and Toronto's Gavin Bradley, Morgan began writing and singing his own songs.
Like a true innovator he's put it all together to create a refreshingly original sound. That by itself is rare.
The really surprising part, however, is that his sound has struck a real nerve with a young, edgy predominately female audience, who by all statistical calculations should be listening to the latest EMO band.
Go Figure!
Come to a show or check his myspace on any given day you'll see what we mean!
As Ivana Santilli remarked on his page " Cool Lyrics! Finally something Different!"
Only having starting gigging in September 2006, it didn't take long for him to make his mark. Morgan made a huge splash in Toronto at Nuit Blanche at the Drake Sept 30/06, with a live performance on top of the building which was combined with visuals by Christian Skjodt, projected on massive screen broadcasting out to Queen St.
In the meantime Morgan has played a steady diet of shows across the GTA and surrounding areas and is working on his debut album to be
released this spring.
Entrepreneur and pop culture aficionado Steven "Sal"Debus of Modrobes fame predicts "Morgan David's Marigolds in Ashes is a HIT SONG !"
Every now and again, an artist comes completely out of nowhere and stuns the experts with a new fresh sound nobody saw coming.
Place your bets on Morgan David.
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