Music & Sound
Deep
Boughs
Folk songwriting, ambient sound, drone and improvisation rooted in the landscapes of the Pacific coast.
Deep Boughs is the music of Dan Belgue, a songwriter and multi instrumentalist based in lək̓ʷəŋən / Victoria, BC.
Rooted in folk songwriting, his music moves through voice, acoustic and electric guitar, clawhammer banjo, synths, drone, ambience and noise. Acoustic songs sit beside long tones and textured sound, with melody and words often swelling outward into something wider and more atmospheric.
Songwriting remains one
of the central threads.
Dan began writing songs as a teenager and spent close to a decade pursuing music full time, travelling extensively across Canada, busking and playing festivals, bars, cafes, markets, house concerts and countless other spaces along the way.
Those years shaped a deeply personal approach to songwriting built around melody, storytelling, improvisation and connection. Clawhammer banjo, intimate vocals and acoustic guitar remain close to the centre, while noisy guitars, layered sound and slow moving ambience allow the songs to wander into less familiar territory.
Vancouver Island finds its way into the music.
Words and melodies can move with the pull of the tide, guitars creak and swell like a wet winter forest, and banjo can feel as immediate and playful as stones skipping across water.
Much of the music has been recorded through a simple, lo fi approach, where imperfections, room sound and unexpected textures are allowed to become part of the recording.
Sound opening
outward.
Alongside songwriting is a parallel practice in ambient music, drone and immersive sound. These pieces often unfold slowly through sustained guitar, synths, field recordings, repetition and improvisation.
This side of Deep Boughs has found a natural home in soundbaths and listening spaces, where sound can stretch out, settle into the room and create space for attention, rest and shared experience.
Soundbaths have become a natural home for the ambient and drone side of Deep Boughs. Sustained guitar, synths, field recordings, repetition and improvisation give the music room to stretch out and settle into the space.
These gatherings offer time to listen, rest and spend a little longer with sound.
Explore gatherings
Listening in
real time.
A growing part of the project also lives in movement spaces. Through improvised electric guitar, looping and long form sound, Dan has created live music for contact improvisation, dance and yoga, responding in real time to the movement and energy in the room.
These collaborations have opened another way of listening through music, where sound becomes part of a conversation between bodies, space, movement and attention.
The different channels of Deep Boughs continually feed one another. A folk song may dissolve into drone. An ambient piece may grow from a guitar phrase, a field recording or a sound discovered by accident. An improvised movement score may reveal an idea that eventually finds its way into a song.
Across all of it is an interest in listening, texture, presence, curiosity and the natural world.
The forests, coastlines and changing seasons of the Pacific Northwest remain a strong influence on the project.
Deep Boughs takes its name from the feeling of being inside the forest, surrounded by layers of branches, weather, time and sound.
It feels like a place for the music to live, somewhere folk songs, quiet noise, long tones, improvisation and atmosphere can all grow together.
Listen
Recordings
Recordings from different periods of the project.
Songs, sound & space.
Different ways of listening.