This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.
Ann Arbor-based musician Danielle Davis, who performs as Dani Darling, says she doesn't "want to throw out the word 'retirement,'" but she is also looking forward to taking a break from music after she releases her latest EP, "Cazimi," at the end of July.
In 2021, Davis was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; she says the illness has made playing guitar and other aspects of music-making more difficult. She also wants to be more available as her daughter, now 16, graduates high school.
"I'm definitely going to take some time to focus on myself and [think about] what doing music might look like in the future if I'm not playing guitar," Davis says.
Dani Darling's music combines elements of funk, disco, psychedelic rock, soul, and something utterly ethereal. Davis says she’s excited for listeners to hear the "lush soundscapes" and "dreamy escapism" featured on "Cazimi." The new EP is named after the astrological phenomenon for planets in close conjunction with the sun. The medieval term was derived from an Arabic phrase for "in the heart of the sun."
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Dani DarlingCover art for "Cazimi."
"I wouldn't say that my previous songs weren't from the heart," Davis says, but the songs on "Cazimi" "were heart-wrenching to talk about and write about and sing about — so these songs are more heartfelt."
Davis recently hopped on the phone to chat about her health, "Cazimi," and an upcoming show her band will play at
Fun Fest on Aug. 9. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How would you say your work has grown or changed since you released "The Future" in 2021?
A: It’s changed a lot. Right after I released "The Future," I was diagnosed with tumefactive multiple sclerosis (MS). I found out because we were playing a show at the
Willis Show Bar, and all of a sudden I couldn't sing — and we played the show anyway, even though I couldn't get my words together. Basically, it felt like I was having a stroke onstage. So I went to the ER. I was there for a week. The damage I sustained in my brain has made certain things harder, like hand-eye coordination and my memory and sometimes my ability to put my words together as seamlessly as I used to. We've taken more breaks. I've had to go through different phases of acceptance — and the guys [in my band] have been really patient with me. But I think this will probably be my last release for a while.
Q: After your MS diagnosis, did your approach to making music change in any way to accommodate those symptoms you were experiencing?
A: For "The Future," we all went in [to the studio], did an overnight jam session on New Year's Eve, and just played for six to eight hours. It came out in this really funky, '70s, psychedelic way that I basically had to chop into different pieces and put together as songs. [This time] I didn't have the stamina or wherewithal to start with that kind of process — getting in a studio and just freestyling it. I wasn't there anymore as an instrumentalist — or mentally and emotionally. So we really took it slower. I wrote the songs myself and brought the songs to the group, and then we workshopped them. It's been a much longer, more thorough process this time around, rather than just flying by the seat of our pants.
Q: Where else are you finding inspiration for your work these days?
A: I think I'm always looking back — like, I really love the '70s. I love that era of music because it seemed so positive and like music was more of a community thing. I love disco, I love funk and psychedelic, and all those things that [were] about the flower power movement, or the Black music movement after Motown — those are all things that really draw me. But what’s also changed is being sick. When you're sick, you don't sugarcoat things as much — or at least I don't.
Q: What does your songwriting process look like?
A: It starts with me and my guitar and my Google Voice Recorder. I sit down and I learn new chords — I like to learn new chords — and then I'll play around with them and come up with a three- or four-chord loop. [They’re] short little capsules of songs. I have a library of hundreds and hundreds of Google Voice [recordings]: some of them are three seconds and that's it; another one will be two minutes long and almost a whole song. I'll go back and be like, "how did I do that?" I go back to those, grab the ones I like, and flesh them out more. If it gets to the point where I want to take it to the band, then we're good. Then we start working on it.
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