Balaphonic on Organic Matters, Live Musicianship and Following the Music Wherever It Leads
- Undrtone Blog
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Balaphonic has always offered Danny Ward a different kind of freedom. Across more than three decades in music, the Manchester producer, drummer, percussionist and DJ has moved through house, jazz, dub, techno, hip hop and downtempo sounds under projects including Moodymanc and Dubble D, but Balaphonic has gradually become one of his most personal outlets.
That continues with Organic Matters, his latest release on NuNorthern Soul and the follow-up to Resolution Revolutions. Across six tracks, Ward brings live percussion, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban influence, Balearic warmth and collaboration into a record that feels deliberately unconcerned with fitting into one particular role.
“Of course I’m a drummer and percussionist first and foremost, and Balaphonic definitely puts that at the forefront when it comes to the writing process,” he explains. “But particularly over the last two records, it’s not really been about ‘fitting in’ to a specific sound or genre. I’ve just followed my heart in exploring tempos and rhythms that I might not have on records in the past.”
The response to Resolution Revolutions gave Ward more confidence to push that philosophy further. Where its predecessor grew organically from music accumulated through lockdown, Organic Matters was conceived as a complete body of work from the beginning.
“This record is much more conceptual from the get-go,” he says. “All the tracks were conceived and written for it from the start. It’s part of the meaning of the title.”
That sense of intention is balanced by a deliberately human approach to rhythm. Ward has spent years refining the relationship between live drumming and electronic precision, initially recording himself before slicing and resequencing performances to retain swing while maintaining control.
“Computing and software have opened up so many more possibilities,” he explains. “I can now record extended multitrack takes and just tidy up where necessary whilst keeping the dynamics and movement of performance.”
On Organic Matters, he consciously leaned even further into that looseness.
“I’m hoping that the humanity of it all shines through without distracting from the grooves.”
Perhaps the clearest example arrives with ‘Switch’, a reworking of Ward’s 2005 composition featuring Brazilian jazz icon Flora Purim alongside her daughter Diana Moreira Booker. Revisiting the original multitracks gave him the opportunity to hear the performances completely differently.
“When I got the full multitracks back it was just mind-blowing,” he recalls. “Flora had apparently been nervous that I might be disappointed it wasn’t all her, but nothing could’ve been further from the truth. She was overjoyed because they hadn’t appeared on a record together before.”
Rather than forcing those vocals into another conventional arrangement, Ward found himself hearing them naturally in 7/4.
“The whole approach with Organic Matters was to really listen to the artists and instruments involved and let that inform the musical direction rather than any preconceived ideas of form or function.”
Despite the unusual time signature, technical complexity was never the goal.
“I have to be able to sing a groove, whatever it might be,” he says. “If I’m connected in that way, it becomes something physical and emotional rather than just an exercise in counting.”
That philosophy reflects a broader shift in his musicianship. After years spent practising drums for up to eight hours a day, Ward increasingly values restraint over displaying technique.
“The more time I’ve spent writing, recording and engineering music, the more I’ve realised the value of simplicity. You can describe a simple concept beautifully with complex language, but if the message is lost, you’ve lost the meaning.”
Collaboration became another defining part of the record. Robin Dewhurst, Joe Botham and Katya Gabeli each brought distinct musical ideas, and Ward deliberately allowed those contributions to redirect the tracks rather than moulding them into an existing template.
Joe Botham’s guitar work on ‘Balaventurers’, for example, unexpectedly led Ward towards singing.
“I had no intention of singing on this record, but I just heard the melodies over Joe’s groove,” he says. “It ended with me in a trance-like state singing late into the night creating the choir.”
Katya Gabeli’s strings pushed him somewhere equally unexpected.
“Her initial concept was to do something quite electronic around her parts, but the raw sound and emotion of the strings inspired me in the opposite direction. I could never have imagined coming up with anything like that track otherwise.”
Ward’s relationship with Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music stretches back to his teenage years, when hearing Flora Purim on ‘500 Miles High’ opened an entirely new musical world. That discovery led through records, percussion workshops and friendships towards a fascination that continues decades later.
“I’m still learning and discovering all the time,” he says. “But I’m also hyper-aware that ultimately I’m a scally jazz drummer and raver from Manchester.”
Rather than attempting to recreate traditions that are not his own, he sees Balaphonic as a distinctly personal response to them.
“The most respectful thing I can do is shine a light on what I love through a lens that is distinctly Mancunian. To do otherwise would feel insincere or contrived.”
That openness stretches across Ward’s entire catalogue. Whether house, dub, jazz or techno, he sees rhythm as the common language connecting everything.
“It’s about an absolute passion for drums, rhythm and dancing, and for the fact that it’s all connected. In fact, we are all connected through these things.”
For Ward, that makes music cultural and political as much as creative.
“It’s not primarily about making money or being popular for popularity’s sake. It’s honest and real. Essentially, for me, they are all forms of folk music.”
Even after more than thirty years, there is little sense that the exploration is slowing.
“Music is an ever-expanding universe to me,” he says. “The more I discover, the less I know. It’s an eternal quest.”
That curiosity feels like the defining thread running through Organic Matters. Balaphonic may have become one of Danny Ward’s most personal projects, but its strength comes from remaining open to other musicians, cultures, rhythms and unexpected turns. Rather than arriving at a fixed destination, the record sounds like another stage in a musical conversation he has no intention of finishing.
