Danno Simpson - The Kill Joy (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Colorado isn’t known for its rock bands, which is something I’d not really thought about until listening to Danno Simpson’s latest offering. We’ve got great music out here, whether it be the moody, beautiful songs of Boulder’s Gregory Alan Isakov, the jamgrass of Nederland’s Yonder Mountain String band, or the straight-up country of Denver’s The Barlow. But, after releasing two EPs and a number of singles in the alt-country vein, Simpson decided to make his first full-length LP a straight-up, ballsy rock record. The Kill Joy (out July 11) relies on the muscle of his touring band and his own (largely twang-free) voice to tell his own, unsentimentalized story.

Although he’s now based in Denver and carries ties to Texas and Georgia, Simpson also identifies with Fort Collins, the college town seventy-some miles north of Colorado’s capital. This shows up most prominently in one of the album’s two lead singles, “Hotel Hillcrest.” Named after a DIY venue important to both Simpson’s music and his young adulthood, the pulsing rocker recalls a night as memorable for a lesson learned – “Now you’re all alone/The last of your drink on your face” – as for its punk rock show. “Down on My Knees” carries a similar grungy club feel with a bit of rockabilly thrown in, as Simpson tries to slip out of less-than-mature tendencies – “When am I gonna grow up, find myself a good girl/Give myself a rest?”

TRACKLIST

1. Danno Simpson - A Song About What I Can't Have
2. Danno Simpson - Hotel Hillcrest
3. Danno Simpson - Heartless
4. Danno Simpson - Days Gone By
5. Danno Simpson - Down On My Knees
6. Danno Simpson - Am I Stoned Or Not Breathing
7. Danno Simpson - All The Times Before
8. Danno Simpson - Leave Me Where You Found Me
9. Danno Simpson - Gold
10. Danno Simpson - When The Stars Fall



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