San Francisco psych/pop project Doncat shares new video "Don’t Step" at Earbuddy, new LP out now

SAN FRANCISCO PSYCH-POP PROJECT DONCAT

SHARES NEW VIDEO “DON’T STEP” AT EARBUDDY,

NEW LP, PRESERVATION OF THE SPIRIT, OUT NOW

DONCAT photo by Duncan Nielsen

Check out DONCAT’s…

New video “Don’t Step” at Earbuddy

New album Preservation of the Spirit at The 405

“Once I Went To Las Vegas” video at Paper Magazine

Stream/embed Preservation of the Spirit via Soundcloud and/or Spotify

DONCAT has also been featured at NYLON, Clash, Earmilk, The Wild Honey Pie, Obscure Sound & more.

RIYL:  Foxygen, Hoops, Kevin Morby, Paul Cherry, Nap Eyes, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Real Estate

“San Francisco-based singer-songwriter Duncan Nielsen is inspired by George Harrison…he coos to [his] sounds with whisper of Americana.” – NME

“Comfy, melodic, and keenly melodramatic…instant classic.” – Earmilk

“Dreamy.” – Paper Mag

“Psych-folk cuts with a plangent Laurel Canyon atmosphere…wonderfully downcast, with Doncat’s gentle poetry matched against a hazy, never-rushed arrangement.” – Clash

“Preservation may be more succinct than its predecessor but the emotion it channels is arguably more potent, once again able to subtly reinvent his own sound without losing the attention of longtime fans and able to grab new ones too. ” – The 405​

“Jiving off of a long line of Californian folk ringers and counterculture singers, DONCAT’s music incorporates both folk and rock textures in his pursuit to unpack the American Dream.” – The Wild Honey Pie

“Gallops with a hazy-day California pop mode of freedom.” – Impose

July 30, 2018 – San Francisco psych/pop project DONCAT (aka Duncan Nielsen) recently shared his new video “Don’t Step” at Earbuddy, who wrote that DONCAT’s music, “H

as a very personal bedroom vibe … a somewhat wandering night-time drive aura about it.”

“Don’t Step” comes off DONCAT’s recent LP Preservation of the Spirit which saw the artist featured at Paper Magazine, Nylon, The Wild Honey Pie, The 405 & more. Preservation of the Spirit is out now.

Duncan Nielsen has sported the moniker DONCAT since 2013. Since then he’s lived in a vista-abundant neighborhood in San Francisco, CA, just south of Haight-Ashbury perched on a hill. From almost anywhere in his house the eye can reach the eastern edge of the city, as well as downtown. On most days, just on the shoulders of the hill behind his house, fingers of heavy fog quietly creep in. He spends a lot of time just sitting in what he calls the Princess Room – a small, light, airy box of windows – staring out at the panoramic view.
“Sometimes I have a guitar in my hands but I’m not even playing. Like, I forget to play cause I’m just lost in my head and simultaneously staring at the view. I do get things done though, lots of demoing and writing up there.”
Nielsen’s youth both informs and structures his meditative songwriting process. He was raised with horses on acres of land in a pristine, quiet valley, away from the asphalt upbringing of his elementary school chums. As a kid, he spent the lion’s share of his time mucking stalls, playing basketball (his coach gave him dribbling goggles but they were useless in a dirt and gravel driveway) and channeling classic rock on a crappy Squire guitar while his older brother played drums.
His growing affinity for the golden age of music only continued to separate him from his peers. In junior-high, he gifted Led Zeppelin I at a birthday party and was ostracized. By the time he entered high school, he found himself as the token kid-with-a-guitar: loved by all and known by none. This bolstered his penchant for writing iconoclastic songs, as well as skipping high school to surf alone.
These days, Nielsen moves from his grandmother’s Wurlitzer piano to his father’s hand-me-down acoustic guitar writing songs at home. He sits in front of a four-track cassette recorder and gets the bones of his songs together with the minimal offerings of that dusty, anachronistic piece of gear.
Upcoming release Preservation of The Spirit is a brief 8 tracks, but delivers concise themes of artifice, modern myth, disintegrating social fabric, and, as the title namely outlines, preserving ones spirit when it’s time to, well, face the music. Each song is a distinctly American narrative rife with poignant satire. In “Once I Went to Las Vegas” Nielsen sings, “I’m smoking cigars in a cheap suit/eating foie gras in a restaurant, five stars/are these my lucky cards?” The album shifts casually between swirling, hypnotizing textures and reckless, loud, electric-guitar bravado – a tasteful blend and welcome progression from his earlier, folkier leanings.
Nielsen’s fourth effort to date explores a more live approach to recording, showcasing the talents of his band of four years.  Current members include Chris Sugiura on bass, Kyle Kelly-Yahner on drums, and Jesse Cafiero on keys. The bulk of it was recorded at Phil Manley-owned El Studio – yes, as in The Studio – over the course of 5 long days.
To date, Nielsen’s songs have been featured in network television series and independent films such as Jessica Biel’s “The Sinner,” ABC’s “Nashville” and “Through The Rye.” He’s opened shows for The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser, Hayden, and Julia Holter. He’s done several nationwide tours as guitarist, vocalist and keyboard player for Geographer.

Preservation of The Spirit is out now via Marble Eye Music.