Denai Moore: Records that changed my life
6th Aug 2020 Records That Changed My Life
Singer and chef Denai Moore reveals the records that have changed her life to accompany the release of her third album.
Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
I arrived quite later one to this Sufjan record, but it was the album that made me such a big fan of his work.
It's so sonically bold and has so many different textures, and layers. It's a dense and colourful album. It influenced a lot of the songs on the new album for me.
Yeezus by Kanye West
This record changed me in so many ways. I had never heard a record like it. Kanye has always been such an innovative artist, which is what I admire about it.
It caused so much conversation—was it a hip-hop album?. It's undefinable and that's what I like about it. The aggressive nature of the world inspired my album Modern Dread, especially with songs like "Don't Close The Door" where there's a flip at the end.
Metals by Feist
Metals was such an underrated album to me. The songwriting is really classic but the sonical world is so rich.
"Anti-Pioneer" is my favourite Feist song of all time, it's crazy how she made such an engaging song with just three chords. It was the inspiration for my song "No Light" on my new album.
Figure 8 by Elliott Smith
Elliott's Smith's songwriting to me is some of the best of all time. A lot of his lyrics linger and stay with me moments after hearing it.
I think this record again was a late discovery for me. I love how warm his guitar sounds and it provides this intimacy that is always hard to capture on a record.
In Rainbows by Radiohead
In Rainbows is my favourite Radiohead album—I think it's a great blend of organic guitar music and some more electronic influences.
Thom Yorke has one of my favourite voices ever, it's very piercing. "Reckoner" influenced my song "Hail" a lot because of all the polyrhythms and the way lots of things can come together and marry really well.
They're the best example of a modern-day band for me.
