Owen Duff profile picture

Owen Duff

Free EP - Click the artwork under ’About Me!’

About Me


Click here to download the free seven song Stop-Gap E.P.
Or download the 1st EP - A Tunnel Closing In - from .. , physical CD release available here :

""Act of War" shimmers with both rhythmic and melodic exuberance, underscored by a refreshing dollop of finesse" fingertipsmusic.com

"a voice that pushes the furniture around the room... It's very very good." thetorturegarden.blogspot.com/

"sounds like he has an edge, a reason, and a compass in his back pocket that can direct you to all the best places." nothingbutgreenlights.net

"you might be witnessing the embryonic stages of a very successful musician..." Amelia's Magazine

BIOGRAPHY: Born in Northern Ireland, grew up in Hull/Manchester and now live in London, for my sins. I've played piano since I was 4, learnt a bit of cello, took drum lessons for a few years, and taught myself guitar and bass. I've been interested in the recording process since I was small(er) too – I used to collect old record players, and would attempt ping-pong multi-track recording using 80s ghetto-blasters. I now have a little studio set up in my bedroom, which is where I recorded "A Tunnel, Closing In".

I'm currently working on an album's worth of new material, which I hope to have released in some form in 2008.

I'm also looking for management. Anyone interested is welcome to message me...

Anyway, here's some of my favourite music:

Captain St. Lucifer – Laura Nyro

Once it was alright now (Farmer Joe) – Laura Nyro The Köln concert – Keith Jarrett Cemetery gates – the Smiths In the musicals - Björk Harm of will – Björk Different Trains – Steve Reich Electric Counterpoint – Steve reich Jesus was a cross-maker – Judee Sill Don Juan's Reckless Daughter – Joni Mitchell Sire of Sorrow (Job's sad song) – Joni Mitchell All my trials – Nick and Gabrielle Drake At the chime of a city clock – Nick Drake Brown Eyed Handsome Man – Buddy Holly Inflammatory Writ - Joanna Newsom Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Wrecking Ball – Emmylou Harris

Hero of the war - Scott Walker Raspberry Beret - Prince Sunday in Savannah/Mississippi Goddam – Nina Simone (live the night after Martin Luther King was killed) I can dream can't I – the Carpenters Eve – the Carpenters Short ride in a fast machine – John Adams Title music from 'Towering Inferno' – John Williams Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G, 2nd Movement – Herbie Hancock Vissi D'arte – Tosca - Puccini
A happy crop, as you can see!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/9/2006
Band Website: owenduff.co.uk
Band Members: Mostly Me, Myself and I, but with welcome live contributions from:

Ellie Gray - Vocals

Cerys Hogg - Drums Darren Reynolds - Bass Craig White - Cor anglais/clarinet/oboe/fluteAlso James Underwood plays violin on some of the newer recordings...
Influences: Laura Nyro, Bjork, Keith Jarrett, Nick Drake, The Smiths, Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, Randy Newman, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Bernard Herrmann, Stevie Wonder, Mamas and Papas, Chet Baker, My Bloody Valentine, The Carpenters, Joanna Newsom, Scott Walker, Gershwin, Judee Sill, Bach, Dusty Springfield, Terry Callier, Buddy Holly, Steve Reich, David Bowie, films, books, the sky, birds, trees, crappy jobs, trips and travels, friends, documentaries, life, death etc etc etc
Other musicians I like: Sufjan Stevens, Kate Bush, Elliott Smith, Regina Spektor, John Tavener, Jim O'Rourke, The National, Neil Young, Final Fantasy
Sounds Like: Ben Folds, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens, Ed Harcourt etc. - these are some of the artists that other people have compared my music to...
Record Label: None. Wealthy backers welcomed.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

The Album Rush

So, I said I’d post something about album progress, and here it is. Despite not having set a concrete deadline for completing the album, I did think it would be finished by now. However, the fac...
Posted by Owen Duff on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:43:00 PST

Why the free EP?

Someone asked me why I put out the Stop-Gap EP the other day. It’s a good question! The answer is that the album is taking longer than expected (I’ll post again to explain why) and I had s...
Posted by Owen Duff on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:17:00 PST

A little net radio play...

Ukulele Song (from the Stop-Gap E.P.) was played tonight on http://beta.skyuserradio.co.uk/index.php.It was sandwiched between Franz Ferdinand's Michael and Lemar's version of I Believe in a Thing Cal...
Posted by Owen Duff on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:25:00 PST

New E.P. Available for Free Download

As promised, here are seven songs for you to have and hold absolutely free. Most are off-cuts of an album I'm working on at the moment, but two are re-recordings of songs that were on my last E.P., th...
Posted by Owen Duff on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:10:00 PST

New Song... and a free E.P coming up!

Just posted an early mix of a song that'll be on my first album proper, am interested to hear opinions one way or another. Also I've enough material that won't be on the album to produce another E.P.,...
Posted by Owen Duff on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:44:00 PST

Troubadour Gig Reviewed

Courtesy of the wonderful people at Amelia's Blog (part of www.ameliasmagazine.com): http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/amelias_blog/2007/05/live_owe n_duff.php...
Posted by Owen Duff on Fri, 25 May 2007 09:53:00 PST

The names Bum... Al Bum

Thought I'd post a little something to let people know what I'm up to, since I've been quiet of late... About four weeks ago I went into a recording studio to lay down piano tracks for 17 songs, aroun...
Posted by Owen Duff on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 04:45:00 PST

Myspacers to whom people ought to listen (in a musical sense)

Below be a list of people that are producing excellent music (there are more, but I have a bad memory):http://www.myspace.com/paulmosley  http://www.myspace.com/marknorthfieldhttp://www.myspace.c...
Posted by Owen Duff on Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:54:00 PST

People say the nicest things...

Okay, this feels like/is self-aggrandisement, but if I don't draw attention to these things who the hell will? Exactly. So, here's some stuff that people with bloody good taste have recently written a...
Posted by Owen Duff on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:47:00 PST

Who are you? Who who, who who??

So 'Act of War' has been played from my website 482 times in the past 5 days. This makes me happy (perhaps not as happy as if these had been itunes purchases but happy all the same) but also confused....
Posted by Owen Duff on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:32:00 PST