Bio

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El Mañana (Spanish for “the dawn”) is an LA based latin indie power trio led by Colombian American singer songwriter & producer Danny Murcia, with Camilla Charlesworth on bass & Rhys Hastings on drums. El Mañana’s remarkable story begins like most of the great works of literature that band leader Murcia studied while pursuing a degree in English Literature at Columbia University. It is during this time that he realized his love of letters and natural vocations for eloquently penning lyrics. In conjunction with his studies, Murcia got himself an internship at the legendary label Atlantic Records. “I interned for their artist development department and soon learned the ins and outs of the record making process. Eventually I met people in the A&R department who were looking for songs for their developing acts. Once I had some email addresses, I started sending demos specifically targeted to their artist roster.”  

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Some time later he got a response from a production team in LA called who offered him a publishing deal; and while Murcia did complete his degree from Columbia, he decided to pursue a songwriting career in the music business. 

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He penned several top 40 hits for mainstream artists such as Grammy award-winning Celine Dion and Urban Latino powerhouse Pitbull, with whom Murcia performed live at such important US TV shows as "Good Morning America" & "The Tonight Show.” Pretty soon word started to get out in high music circles about Murcia’s abilities, which led to an offer to sign a major record deal with Columbia Records. This catapulted him into what he describes as a nightmare of appeasing industry gatekeepers, in which Murcia felt like a commodity in a machine only interested in molding him into something he wasn’t—  a corporate conception of a Latin Pop star.

Life became even more dramatic after that, as Murcia was soon diagnosed with a recurring stage 2 seminoma, a form of cancer, and had to go through several intense surgeries and treatments. To make matters more complex, he was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder while battling cancer. Suddenly feeling trapped in a perfect storm of bleak emotions, Murcia turned to writing as a form of therapy:"writing helped me work cathartically through those feelings and achieve a sense of a distance from them as I healed.”  It is through these darkest of times that the concept of El Mañana was born. 

 

With El Mañana, Murcia redefines his Latin American identity, moving away from crafting mainstream pop to create a more authentic sound channeling his diverse musical sensibilities through layered guitar textures reminiscent of seminal British shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and The Jesus & Mary Chain, while still stepping very much forward into modern psychedelia a la Tame Impala The songs feel dreamy & evocative with hints of melancholy while still highly melodic, colorful and full of light. 

 

Lyrically, Murcia’s songs reflect the duality of being bicultural— he writes in Spanglish juxtaposing the magical realism of his ancestral land in Colombia with the feel of the California magic hour he inhabits, while still reflecting his own emotional experiences through his dark times. El Mañana encapsulates Murcia’s ability to feel the pulse of the music currents of the pop world, but with integrity, honesty and authenticity. El Mañana means hope, Murcia found comfort in looking toward the future, making the phrase “el mañana” his motto. Now, his vision comes to life. 

 

El Mañana will be releasing the single “Seasons” in June through Los Angeles based label Cosmica Records known for releasing such acts as Grammy Award winning Carla Morrison, Gaby Moreno, The Marias amongst Many..The band performed several showcases in SXSW  2019, coming this summer they will be kicking of a west coast tour in support of a full EP release starting with a show on July 12 at The Levitt Pavillion sharing the bill with Draemings &Vaya Futuro. In September the will be kicking off their first  tour to Mexico, More news to come..