Singer Danielle Morgan reflects on the year with her Locked Down EP

Husband, drummer and co-writer John Merrigan said it emerged naturally from their lockdown online performances.

“When lockdown started we had the challenge of trying to keep the band together. We are all over the country – Scotland, London, Chichester. And so we thought let’s put out some tracks via video just to keep us busy musically and to keep in contact with the fans.

“And we did seven of those lockdown videos, and there was such a huge reaction. We have had close on a million views of those seven songs all together that we put out.

“And that prompted the idea ‘Why don’t we put out a lockdown EP?’ People want new songs. We decided to spend some time doing some of the songs that we had done during lockdown. We used some of the great technology that is available for sound systems right now, and we all recorded our individual parts and then brought them together with our producer Andrew who put it all together remotely.

“We are really happy with the way that they have turned out. It is not the equivalent of going into a studio, obviously, but it is pretty close. The way we usually record we feed off each other face to face, but we have managed to try to find a way to make this work remotely, and we are really happy with what we have done.

“There are restrictions to the fact that we have recorded them at home, but we have worked really hard to get the best sound that we could, knowing that sometime in 2021 we will get into a studio and we will properly and finely craft them into an album. They are not the definitive version, but they are works in progress… a way of keeping connected musically with each other and with the fans.”

The songs are I’m Coming Home – a rock/pop track about home-coming; Right A Wrong – a joyous reggae track, written and recorded during the summer; Selfish Girl – a catchy country-rock track; and So Long Ago – a powerful soul ballad capturing the mood of 2020

Danielle is delighted with the mix – and with lyrics that reflect the times. Selfish Girl, for instance, touches on the selfishness of bulk-buying.

“So Long Ago reflects what we have all been through. There is a line about what we did so long ago when we were young and free. It really does represent the fact that we are apart from each other, from friends, from family – and that we can look back on the moments when we were together.

“I’m Coming Home is a song John wrote about coming back from Dubai to Ireland and England, but we have had so many people writing to us that they can’t come home, they can’t see family and friends, they can’t go to funerals. The song has become really emotional to people.

“Right A Wrong is about the fact that there has been a lot of wrong about the development of Covid and how it was handled. We really couldn’t find a vibe to that song. We had six different versions – and then the sun was shining and we were listening to Bob Marley and we just thought ‘Let’s try that!’ Everybody was off from April, and the reggae music just really lifted our spirits. We just thought ‘Let’s sit in the sun in the garden and listen to reggae and pretend that we are actually somewhere really exotic!”

The band members are Danielle Morgan (vocals/piano); John Merrigan (drums); David Barbour (guitar); Peter Rutherford (bass); Andrew Dascalopoulos (keys and guitar); Lucy Dee (backing vocals) and Rob McCann (harmonica).

The new EP is dedicated to Danielle’s fans everywhere and has initially been be self-released via Danielle’s website: www.daniellemorganmusic.com.