My Inspiration: Danica Dares – The Hunt

Creators of alternative electronic-pop Danica Dares put their new single, The Hunt, out into the ether. The track, with it’s haunting melodies, sly guitar and sinister synths – alongside some mood evoking sound-art-esque samples, sets the scene as it talks about society’s insatiable need to consume.

Here, lead singer Harriet tells us more about what inspired the track…

The Hunt is a dark, dystopian track exploring the void created by compulsive consumption and our endless quest for more – a timely reminder during this season of excess.

I’m sure everyone will remember the images from earlier this year when lockdown began to ease and people could once again hit the shops in person. After months of restrictions (and months of buying stuff online) it was pretty weird seeing long queues of people forming outside shops in every city in the UK; people desperately waiting for the shop doors to open so they could buy that all important item they were longing for… 

It feels a bit like we’re addicted to needing and wanting more, irrespective of how much we have/don’t have. That’s the inspiration behind our new track; our irrational longing for more.  

Our insatiable appetite to buy stuff wasn’t just evident during the pandemic. We’ve just experienced Black Friday, a household date for the diary which seems to become larger and more aggressive each year. A consumer’s paradise, this frenzied festival encourages us to spend to our heart’s content and it can be difficult to resist the charms of those emails flooding our inboxes with endless, tempting offers. Ok, so we get a dopamine kick when we press that ‘buy now’ button but in the long run does it make us any happier? I know I don’t sleep any better at night because I managed to buy a discounted pair of pj’s for my mum about three years ago. And it’s not just about consuming ‘things’, we’re always on The Hunt for something – food, drink, people, money, a better job, a bigger flat – the list goes on….

I think lockdown for many people seemed like a time to recalibrate and to perhaps think about the things that really matter: family, friends, your social life and habits, your job, where you live etc. But in reality, our quest for more continued even more feverishly in the online space, literally thrusting the likes of Bezos into space! So this song asks questions about what the hell it is that we’re hunting for to make us happy, and builds to an intense and disorientating climax – the feeling I get in any shop trying to make decisions about Christmas presents! The Hunt is a reminder not to fill the personal void with impersonal stuff. This year, I want to give a bit more of myself to those close to me, and a bit less to Jeff.