Nigeria: Listen to Duncan Daniels’ Dan Cain: Honesty and Nostalgia album

The 10-tracker, a departure from the Afrobeats style into alternative rock and orchestrated compositions, explores themes of authenticity and wistfulness.

The album’s visuals were shot in the Sistine Chapel, with mixing and mastering at Abbey Road Studios.

Among the highlights of Dan Cain is Daniels’ collaboration with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra on ‘Holy Water’, blending it with remarkable moments like Vitaliy Tkachuk’s bomb raid guitar solo in ‘Odessa’ and Johnatha Bastos’ toe-played performance on ‘Peacock Feather’.

“The album showcases Daniels’ versatility as an artist and his unwavering commitment to musical authenticity,” a statement reads. “In today’s world, the true worth of music is often overlooked. While many artists rely on a good microphone and powerful after effects, the essence of creating timeless music demands more – sometimes even the extremes.

“Capturing that elusive lightning in a bottle means embracing the rawness of live performance. It’s not merely about the voice or the lyrics; it’s about the resonance of each key, the vibration of every string, the whisper of the wind, the heartbeat of the percussive rhythms, and the soul of each melody.”

Daniels, whose music is inspired by early '90s rock artists like Bon Jovi, The Cranberies, Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz, boasts of over 60 000 monthly listeners on Spotify and has amassed over 6 million streams across digital streaming platforms. His first official single was a rock fusion song called ‘I don Taya’ which also became the title of his debut album released in 2006. The artist boasts three nominations at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards.