About

Dan Belgue is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from lək̓ʷəŋən/Victoria, Canada. Organic acoustic folk songs collide with cosmic ambience. Words and melody swell like the pacific tide. Noisy guitars creek with the winter rainforest; clawhammer banjo plunks along like rocks skipping on a stream. Deeply rooted in authentic, introspective songwriting, and a desire to explore a variety of sonic influences and textures, Dan creates a unique and compelling brand of contemporary folk music.

DECOMPOSING -- a new five song EP -- released Friday the 13th of December, 2024, is out now. This collection of tunes, Dan's first since 2018, is an authentic journey through the emotions of human relations. Introspective, nostalgic, organic, tender, noisy, ambient; layers and influences converge to illustrate the continued evolution in writing and recording that Dan has been exploring for the last 8 years. Recorded entirely by himself with a lofi bedroom set-up, the EP features lush layers of guitars, banjos, and synths, intimate vocals, and a distinct songwriting voice.

Dan developed a deep appreciation for all kinds of music from a childhood filled with song. Cutting his teeth by penning punk rock songs at age 14, it wasn't until falling in love with folk music in his twenty's that his passion for songwriting began to fully bloom. After discovering the banjo and working as a busker in downtown Victoria, Dan met fellow folk musician and fiddler, Megan McCaffrey, and together they formed The Blackwood Two. Originally a busking act playing traditional old-time fiddle tunes, they evolved into a mostly original folk duo, and for a decade performed at gigs and festivals from coast to coast.

Dan released his first collection of solo music in 2013 with the album Tall Tales and Dusty Trails which garnered extensive radio play on college airwaves. In 2016 Dan returned to solo music production with the release of Attics, an EP made under the moniker BEL. With BEL, Dan sought to create more experimental sounds, and Attics was the first step on the sonic pathway Dan is still following today. A low-fi, ethereal, mostly acoustic album with spacey vocals and loud electric guitar parts, [Attics] "demonstrates quite admirably just how much you can do with just a 4-track cassette recorder and a few stringed instruments..." (Mark Anthony Brennan, Ride the Tempo, June 30th, 2016). This was followed up by 2018's Basements, a second EP under the BEL moniker, which charted on the CFUV airwaves and enjoyed airplay on college stations across the country.

In 2020, Dan dropped the BEL moniker and decided to return to recording and performing under his own name. This change felt like the most authentic representation of Dan’s growing body of work, where multiple musical interests, layers of influence, and different projects converge.

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