Too Cool? Hardly.
Dame Haff, the solo project of London-born, New York-toughened musician Dan Mehaffey, arrives with a debut EP that refuses to sit still.
Titled Nostalgia, the record celebrates and mocks our haziest emotions in equal measure, wrapping soft acoustic melodies in unapologetically oversized synthesisers.
Playing nearly every instrument himself (because drummer Tom Marsh was “simply available”), Mehaffey strikes a deliberate balance between DIY charm and musical precision.
Influenced by offbeat storytellers like Jonathan Richman, his songs explore the quietly absurd sadness of a Brazilian gap year gone wrong, the self-inflicted romantic complications of ‘Easy Lover,’ and the too-cool posturing of growing up in North London.
Produced and mixed by Oli Deakin, the EP is “easy, breezy” in spirit, yet suddenly willing to pull the rug out.
Below, Dame Haff discusses nostalgia as his favourite emotion, why his music is a one-sided conversation, and what makes him genuinely happy.
HAPPY: What’d you get up to today?
DAME HAFF: I drank coffee, played acoustic guitar, went to the Deli (comte and artichokes), exercised, played acoustic guitar, worked on a music app (side project), did some day job work, played acoustic guitar.
HAPPY: Tell us a little about where you’re from, and what you love about it!
HAFF: I’m from North London. Our soccer team (Arseeeeenal) just won the league and so 1m people turned out to celebrate. It was the best of times, it was the drunkest of times.
The turnout represented what I love about London, diverse, raucous, hilarious.
HAPPY: The EP is named ‘Nostalgia,’ but is this record actually mocking nostalgia, surrendering to it, or somewhere in between?
HAFF: This EP is celebratory and mocking. Nostalgia is my favourite emotion, and sometimes in the present I look forward to the nostalgia I’ll experience down the line. Music is the greatest trigger.
I also believe I experience more Deja Vu than your average person (unverified) and that nostalgia plays a part in this.
HAPPY: You describe the EP as “deliberately unpolished.” Could you expand on this?
HAFF: My favourite artists embrace Lo-fi (Jonathan Richman, Alex G, Neutral Milk Hotel).
I want my music to be like a one sided conversation rather than a scripted speech.
HAPPY: Which track on Nostalgia changed the most from its original demo, and why?
HAFF: Charlie’s Music.
I had the chorus figured out for a while, then completely re-worked the verse into a spoken word monologue on growing up in London with a disturbing bass synth wobbling menacingly in the background.
HAPPY: One song explores the “quietly absurd sadness” of a gap year in Brazil. What went wrong on what was supposed to be idyllic?
HAFF: They say the pre-frontal cortex of a man does not fully mature until you are 25 years old (verified).
I flew to Brazil when I was 24. Lots went wrong, but lots went right, and here I am the sum of my experiences with a bulging pre-frontal cortex.
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HAPPY: Charlie’s Music is about growing up “too cool.” Did you grow up too cool, or are you still trying to?
HAFF: I grew up around people who grew up “too cool”, so cool that it took me a long time to realise they were “too cool” and then that stopped being “cool” which worked out for me just fine.
HAPPY: You’ve lived on both sides of the Atlantic, London and New York. Does Nostalgia sound more British or American to your own ears?
HAFF: I have one parent from New York, one from New Zealand, and apparently grew up sounding like the “f*cking Queen” (thanks Uncle Michael). I hear bits of everything, curious to know what you think?
HAPPY: Your project is driven by “a refusal to take things at face value.” What’s something about the music industry everyone accepts that you refuse to?
HAFF: Behind every pout (artist, critic, influencer, publisher) is an excited child who wants to dance and shout about the latest tune that’s got them excited.
HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?
HAFF: Nostalgia
