Dan Tedesco’s organic growth

Dan Tedesco opens for Lincoln Durham at Vaudeville Mews on Wednesday, May 11 at 9:30 p.m.

Last year, Dan Tedesco released a self-titled album that featured songs recorded on an iPad from his home studio. Taking a decidedly new-tech approach to lo-fi music, the album was critically lauded and overwhelmingly received by fans. Tying in with the album, Tedesco made a music video for the last track, “I Didn’t Come Here to Get Mellow,” produced by local video team DEFT, which was released earlier this year.

After spending much of the past six months touring and playing in support of the album, Tedesco is working toward a second installment.

“I think, initially, the album was very much an experimental project,” he said in an interview from the road. “But it went well enough and satisfied me well enough that I wanted to pursue it further.”

The second album will repeat the self-titled release’s lo-fi recording process, but Tedesco is also adding an electronic element, taking the songs in a different artistic direction.

“Layering the other elements on top of it makes for a really interesting sonic texture,” he explained. “Thematically, it sort of extends out and further explores a lot of the same themes from the previous album. The ideas are so closely paired, I almost think of it as a double album that was released a year apart.”

Tedesco doesn’t see the experiment going past a second album but is instead turning his focus for the rest of the year to his live performances and building up his local fan base. To do so, he has fundamentally changed the way he looks at his Des Moines shows.

“Before I lived here, I was playing in town maybe three times a year,” he said. “Then when I moved to town, I thought I needed to kind of stay on that same level.”

But now, instead of trying to headline every show he plays and looking to sell out a 300-seat venue, Tedesco is also attaching his name to quality shows as an opener. He said the experience has not only gotten him into venues he had not played on his own, but it is getting him in front of fans whom he might never have had an opportunity to perform for otherwise.

“Now the plan is to really work those support slots over the summer then set up another headlining show in October and see how that goes,” he said. CV