After eight years of dedication, commitment and hard work, Austin, Texas-based psychedelic uke-pop artist Tim Delaney has finally broken out onto the music scene with the release of his debut EP, Where to Begin and lead single “Rocío” — available now.
“Rocío” (pronounced roh-see-oh) opens with a beautiful, reverb-heavy chord progression driven by the sounds of Delaney’s calculated acoustic playing abilities; “it’s played on a ukulele,” he shares, “the recorder of stringed instruments.”
Though a simple four-chord song, the song is layered with buttery vocal harmonies, sounds of shakers, and an enchanting guitar solo towards the end.
“Rocío” and Where to Begin is the first-ever taste of Delaney’s solo work, and gives the listener a general idea of his musical style: acoustic-centric pop and rock inspired by his ever-expansive taste for 20th century classics, from the British Invasion to the ‘90s grunge era.
The self-proclaimed poet and philosopher began writing the album in 2013 and, after many day jobs and roadblocks, has now unleashed the five-track project to the masses. After spending 2017 recording from the closet of his apartment, Delaney reached out to sound engineer Andre Moran about mixing the project, and Mark Hallman about mastering it.
Between December 2018 and March 2020, the trio worked together on Where to Begin at Congress House Studio in his hometown of Austin.
Before the long-awaited release of Where to Begin, Delaney first appeared on a joint-single with American rapper Neutron Squared (N²) entitled “Looking to the Stars for Direction (Hearing Colours).”
While the album was a long time in the making, Delaney’s full origin story begins at the end of his mother’s; in the 1980s, her dreams of becoming a country singer went up in flames, quite literally, when her husband — Tim’s abusive father — set fire to all of her demos. That fire has fueled Delaney since.
“For me, life is a constant evolutionary process,” he shares. “That’s what I want to share: Never stop wondering. Never stop evolving.”
