Boombox Blitz: Dani Young finds her footing on ‘Stepping Stones’

Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.

A small town is a hellfire serpent, whose slippery scales prick the skin as it wraps its body around yours. It tightens its grasp and cuts into your skin, and as much as you try to wriggle away, the cunning creature digs deeper into the expanse of veins and arteries. But even more, it’s a mentality buried beneath six feet of mundanity and smothered on dreams yet to be fully realized, discarded child-like wander on the diner’s grimy, cracked linoleum. Country newcomer Dani Young, who hails from the land down under, punches her time clock on a completely soul-crushing 9-to-5 with her debut solo single “Stepping Stones,” a romping, downtrodden number that carries with it the weight of the world.

“Sometimes, you feel like crying / Sometimes, you feel like dying,” she confesses through whispering flecks of guitar and percussion. She wears her heart on her sleeve like an emblem of her experiences in the battle field, as a working musician who found herself once again caught up in the groggy haze of Sydney, a city that hasn’t quite served an adequate artistic purpose in her life. “I was stuck in traffic on a Sydney bus, having freshly moved back to the city after a few years in the outback, and I realized I still hadn’t escaped that feeling of being in the same place while everyone else was moving on to better things around me,” says Young, whose lilting voice is stitched with woe and isolation.

Even in the accompanying visual, sunny and lush, there is a brokenness through which Young wades. Upon tossing down her work apron for the day, she slowly makes her way through a homey, but somehow dazzling, small town. People weave in and out of her orbit, and there’s an immense electricity that seems to pierce the screen. “I’m building up to better things,” she convinces herself, valiantly combating the undercurrent of unease that is whittled in her bone cavities. Produced by Damien Leith (winner of 2006’s Australian Idol and who has been nominated for several arias and MTV Australia music video accolades), “Stepping Stones” is a remembrance of the vitality of life but also the necessity of failure. It clings to the traditions of bluegrass and folk music, while allowing Young to push the boundaries into shimmering pop-country touch points. The soles of her shoes are well-worn, tattered even, but there’s a liberation in knowing you’re only down for as long as you want to be.

Young is expected to release her first EP in 2019.

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Photo Credit: Michael Parker

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