Future Real Ones
released November 5th, 2021
In the claustrophobic landscape of post-COVID-lockdown bedroom pop releases, Danke Shane’s ‘Future Real Ones’ is an obvious standout, weaving an eclectic constellation of musical influences through the lens of indie pop to masterful effect.
Danke Shane is the solo project of Baltimore-based musician Andrew Burke. While primarily working in classical composition, Burke has maintained a love of indie pop throughout his musical career, first culminating in his high school band The Da Vincis, and further with EPs and singles released under various monikers during college. Now a master’s student in composition at the Peabody Institute, Andrew offers a cosmopolitan take on bedroom pop music, equally as influenced by years studying keyboard, music theory, and arrangement as he is by modern pop artists like Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, and Clairo.
‘Future Real Ones’ expands on the musical strengths Andrew has developed throughout his lifelong meditation on pop music. Lush vocal arrangements converge with jazzy keys, lo-fi guitars and energetic drums, creating a harmonically rich sound full of hooks and pop influences juxtaposed against themes of loneliness and melancholy. Recorded over a year of strange circumstances that brought Burke from rural Pennsylvania to Fairbanks, Alaska and eventually back to Baltimore, ‘Future Real Ones’ was made with an economy of means, with most of the album recorded using what could fit in a couple of suitcases. In truth, the first thing you hear on the album is the sound of an unamplified electric guitar recorded using a laptop microphone. But therein lies the charm of ‘Future Real Ones,’ a DIY EP with a sophisticated presentation that manages to feel both experimental and inviting - a perfectly developed portrait of Danke Shane’s signature sound.