Papa's Boat Dana and Alden

• 1 Lighthouse 03:06
• 2 Trick Dog 01:36
• 3 Summer Nights 03:29
• 4 Napa 86 03:16
• 5 Friendship is a Boat 05:08
• 6 Milk and Honey 04:34
• 7 A Lullaby Flew Through My Window 02:34
• 8 Lee's Greenhouse 03:56
• 9 My Normal Life 01:40
• 10 North Star 02:58
• 11 inthistogether 02:39
• 12 Good Kid 03:06
• 13 El Gaucho 04:25
• 14 Randy 02:09
• 15 A Broken Cup 06:40
• Total Runtime 51:16

Info for Papa's Boat

Named endearingly after their late maternal grandfather, Dana and Alden’s new album is imbued with their Papa’s wanderlust spirit as it musically traverses the places he traveled, memorializes moments from his life and channels his eclecticism. Papa’s Boat was recorded across London, New York and Brazil, where the duo infused the various soundscapes of their travels into an eclectic musical concoction that draws elements from indie rock, samba, bossa nova, jazz, rap, pop and more.

Dana and Alden’s new album is informed by lessons taken from the life of their beloved late maternal grandfather, Papa. An avid sailor and world traveler, the duo infuse his spirit and sounds from the various locales of his travels into Papa’s Boat. The result, is a personal ode to a dear member of their family, but also a universally resonant body of work that makes his spirit and zest for life everpresent.

Papa’s Boat was recorded across London, New York and Brazil, with the duo taking musical cues from each of the album’s spiritual homes. With the guidance of Yussef Dayes, Gilles Peterson and Marcos Valle on their recording trips, the duo infused the various soundscapes of their travels into an eclectic musical concoction that draws elements from indie rock, samba, bossa nova, jazz, rap, pop and more. The album was made with the duo’s backing band, all of whom were key collaborators and producers on Papa’s Boat: Andrew Mitchell on bass, Ebba Dankel on vocals and keys, Eli Torgersen on vocals and guitar, and Salim Charvet on sax and synths. The album was masterfully engineered by Malcolm Catto at his Quatermass Sound Lab studio in Dalston.

Speaking of what it meant to work with Marcos Valle, Dana says: “He has been one of our musical heroes since we were 12 years old. We worked on this apple orchard in Oregon for this farmer named Tom, who was obsessed with Brazilian music and Marcos Valle. He would just ride around on his tractor every day and come back and show us the new albums he had found. Both of the songs are really just a dream come true.”

That globe-trotting collection of influences gets woven into a tight-knight musical community on Papa’s Boat, with the duo prioritizing tactile connection and leaning on teachings of friends to further expand their musical knowledge. Led by the jazz prowess of Dana’s saxophone and Alden’s drums, the album features a cadre of musician friends new and familiar, including Brazilian legend Marcos Valle, Melanie Charles, Mei Semones, Zaza Desiderio, Cinya Khan, Mirella Costa and many more.

Dana and Alden

Dana and Alden Brothers Dana and Alden McWayne, along with a troupe of multi-instrumental artists, come together to create jazzy melodies with indie sounds inspired by their unconventional upbringing in Eugene, Oregon. Their debut album, Quiet Music for Young People, is an amalgamation of their childhood, melding memories of summer days spent working at an apple orchard, and rainy winter nights where they jammed at cozy jazz clubs. These retrospective moments are channeled through the lens of their wide-ranging influences, from Ahmad Jamal to Big Thief to Bad Bunny. Alden, the younger of the two, is a drummer and recent graduate of Berklee College of Music, while Dana, the elder statesman, is a saxophonist and organic farm inspector in Durham, NC.

This album contains no booklet.