If you catch the samples of songs played at beginnings, ends, and middles of any TV show, then you know just how frenetic it gets when you find something so entrancing that you’re frantically surfing around the internet searching for whatever fragments of lyrics that you still remember. Generally, you only need snippet of a distinctive lyric. Put it in Google, and then, BAM, you have everything you need on which to build a lovely foundation . Well, not this time for me.
I’m a fan of watching HuluPlus, Amazon Video, and Netflix. I’m always going in with series to see just how good they can be. Hulu now streams the series episodes for The Path. (What it’s about is not necessary for this piece…but I like it.) At the end of Episode Eight (The Shore), the main character played by Aaron Paul is in a location where he sees the ghost of his brother. It’s the end of the episode and a sample of a tune is playing that is captivating in its lyrics and simple (but haunting) acoustic guitar work. The song is “Why” by Daniel Spaleniak.
Now, before you run off to hunt his history down, I’ll tell you there is little to none. In fact, once he’s found, you’ll see that there’s little in the way of much outside a few videos, and a Facebook account in his native Polish language. But the music is incredible.
I’m enchanted by the songs of Daniel Spaleniak. You can hear his music on Spotify, but Spotify only shares 30-second samples when you’re trying to help a guy out by “word of mouth” or “post of link”.
Here’s what I know: Spaleniak currently has two albums out. The first is Dreamers, which was released in March of 2014. On that album is the mentioned “Why” track, as well as another The Path sample of his song, “Nothing To Do”. His newest album was recently released. That album is called Back Home, and was released on March 11 of 2016. Both albums are extraordinary.
I’m just surprised that there is so little on this guy in a time of so much information. If you’re going to push me into a corner, well…I certainly recognize Leonard Cohen in a lot of his stuff. Don’t think? Check out “Liar’s Blues” below in the embedded video. Like Cohen, there’s more than a fair share of melancholy in his songs. You can access his FB page here. You can access his meager display of video and audio treats at YouTube here. If you have Spotify, then you have full access to ALL of his songs.
The excellent title track from his latest album, Back Home, is the last video on this page.
I highly recommend David Spaleniak.