Donovan Funk lays heart bare on epic debut ‘Subjective Reality’

OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — To hear singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Donovan Funk describe his sound, it’s simply some kind of “alternative rock,” but that’s likely only because narrowing it down any further might just be impossible.

On his upcoming debut full-length, “Subjective Reality” – dropping October 28th with a special release show at Trolley Stop Record Shop – Funk floats through everything from piano balladry to alt-country to minimalist electro, and does it all with enough honesty and confidence to keep things not only coherent, but firmly grounded.

There’s a lot to be said about the importance of song, the simple combination of melody and lyric that aims straight for the heart, and about the level of vulnerability required to present it without hiding behind a sheen of production. No amount of studio trickery or texture or experimentation can ever dethrone the absolute power of a great song, and while Funk spends a lot of time developing textures and playing with production, it’s clear that he never loses that focus.

The opening title track sets the stage perfectly, featuring nothing more than Funk’s own intimate, pensive vocal atop a lonely-yet-grandiose piano arranged by Tor Miller, a Brooklyn-based musician Funk calls “an artist I’ve admired since I was 16 who made me want to sing.”

From there on, the songs are each the master of their own domains, with all the textural touches and full-band production (including Funk’s own brother Conner on drums) swirling around, entering and exiting from off-stage, but never overwhelming the all-important song.

Donovan Funk
Donovan Funk performing at Ponyboy (photo_ Lauren Makay Smith)

When second track “Cheat Death” begins, it’s again just a minimal, plucky guitar and Funk’s voice, but when a cello enters and swells up from underneath (provided by guest star Cheyenne McCoy,) it feels like Funk’s own daydreams are coming to audible life around him. There’s almost a sense that the entire album is, in reality, just a series of sparse bedroom ballads, and that all of the drums, fuzzy guitars, synth pads and layers are all just coming out of Funk’s own dreaming mind.

Like a single singer accompanied only by his own imagination.

“Cheat Death” continues building brilliantly with enough epic growth and crescendo to be any other album’s finale. Here, it simply announces the journey ahead.

The overarching theme throughout is undoubtedly mortality, not only in Funk’s many hushed considerations of death, but in his examinations of the mind and the body and the complications between them. More often than not, this is centered on the ways in which he feels different and separate from others, the subjective reality of the title, always grappling with the fact that you can never understand someone else’s mind and vice versa.

Donovan Funk

There is a remarkable bit of overlap here, in everything from the “chamber pop” sound to the lyrical themes, to the 90s heyday of R.E.M. “Subjective Reality” would feel easily and comfortably at home right next to “Automatic for the People,” with both using cello and delicate, acoustic arpeggios to wrestle with feelings of unwanted individualism in a world increasingly connected without you.

Not to mention that Funk’s vocal delivery is at times staggeringly close to Michael Stipe’s. Check out late-album track “Suffocate” for the evidence.

Start to finish, “Subjective Reality” is about honesty on a level that you rarely see from young, local artists. The goal is normally to kick the doors in and announce yourself with a swagger and a “coolness” that can’t be argued or ignored. 

Donovan Funk doesn’t bother with that. Like a deep breath of fresh air, he presents these songs with naked, genuine earnestness, never weighed down with pretense or ego, and never falling prey to the ironic detachment that has come to define the “alternative rock” label he uses for himself.

This is an album of such intimacy that it feels almost like Donovan is sitting right there beside you, close enough that you can hear the band playing in his head.

“Subjective Reality” by Donovan Funk hits streaming services on Friday, October 28th.

 The official release show kicks off at 7pm that night at Trolley Stop Record Shop. RSVP online for discounted tickets at okc.fanwave.io.

Follow Donovan Funk on Instagram at @donovan.funk.

And … This!

Local musical mastermind, and one of the hardest working players in the OKC scene, Christian Pearson is kicking off a two-part series paying tribute to his piano player idols at the Skirvin this Friday, October 14th with an all-night tribute to the music of Billy Joel.

Pearson – who provides live piano and keys for Donovan Funk – has been planning this live love letter to two of his biggest heroes, Billy Joel and Elton John, for awhile, and even just returned from a bit of “research” in NYC: catching Joel at Madison Square Garden.

The fire starts promptly at 8pm for the Billy Joel tribute, and mark your calendars for November 11th when Pearson does it all again in honor of the living legend Elton John.

For tickets and info, visit Pearson’s own page at christianpearson.me.


Author Profile

Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.