- Desert Island Cloud Themes of anxiety, fear, anger, self-doubt, and escapism

Daniel says, “This EP was written and produced with Jake Bowman, Jordan Blackmon, and Greg Cortez. It’s the second of 4 solo EPs I’m releasing this year from a project called I Have / No Clue / What / I’m Doing.

We wrote and recorded most of it remotely during lockdown in 2020. It touches a lot on the themes of anxiety, fear, anger, self-doubt, and escapism – all things that being locked down in a global pandemic seemed to exacerbate. 9 months prior to the pandemic I had moved out to Los Angeles from Nashville after 10+ years of playing music there without any real plan other than to get out of my own head for a while and to create as much music as possible with as many different people as possible. That’s how I ended up working with Jake, Jordan, and Greg. They are all monstrously talented producers, songwriters, artists, and engineers. We all come from different musical backgrounds, but we all immediately clicked as musicians, everyone bringing a little bit of their own influences to these songs. I call it a solo EP, but the truth is that No Clue was 100% a group effort.”

Known for writing compulsively catchy hooks that bend the lines of genre, Daniel Ellsworth is the epitome of independent artistry. He’s a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who allows himself the freedom to develop his sound across a wide variety of genres and projects. His chimerical style falls somewhere between buoyant, hopeful pop, carefree indie rock, and pulse-driven hip-hop (think Brian Wilson meets Pharrell), and his independent and collaborative works have been featured in a long list of films, TV episodes, and international ad campaigns.

Now an established pop composer, he continues to produce and write collaboratively, expanding his extensive repertoire with regular releases from his three current projects, Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes, Chaos Emeralds, and DARKMINDS, as well as his solo debut, forthcoming in 2021. Despite his frequent collaboration and dexterity across genres, Ellsworth’s music is distinct: there is always the perfect hook, bold melodic lines that feel inventive and at the same time immediately recognizable.