by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“My last year in college was definitely a spiritual awakening,” says Daniel Smith. “I had this wonderful experience where I finally realized who I was, and out of that came all kinds of music and artwork.”

Danielson, specifically, the family band that began in 1995 as a project for Smith’s senior thesis, and endures to this day, with seven albums to its names—Danielson Famile, Br. Danielson and simply Danielson, depending on how many family members and friends are involved. Their latest release is Ships, a bulbous indie pop record featuring roughly two dozen musicians, among them Sufjan Stevens and Deerhoof. Whereas previous Danielson line-ups were dependent on how many folks were willing to travel to Smith’s Clarksboro, New Jersey HQ (his siblings are scattered as far afield as San Diego), this time he resolved to involve as many people as possible.

“I spent a lot of time and effort to make it happen, even if that meant doing things that I’d never done before, such as fly to the West Coast or upload tracks to the Internet and have friends around the country work on them,” says Smith. “Conceptually, the record is about relationships, in a bigger way than ever, and so I wanted to make that point in the recording process.”

Though Smith is a father himself, his generation’s patriarch is Lenny Smith, once a composer of popular religious songs, who introduced his children to carpentry (Daniel Smith worked in the field until last year) and music. Not surprisingly, Lenny makes an appearance on Ships, though he’s not part of the five-piece touring band.

“On stage, there’s just something so wonderful about us playing together. We’ve been playing instruments since we were super young, playing with our dad, and that’s in there—that’s in the music.”

Prior to his epiphany, there was a brief period when relationships were less important to Smith, when he questioned faith and took family ties for granted.

“I was an egomaniac,” he admits. “Now, my personal spiritual life is based on less of me, more of the spirit of God, which is love, which is selflessness, which is caring about others before yourself.”

As much as spirituality puts Smith’s mind and soul at ease, speaking openly about it has gotten him, along with Sufjan Stevens and Pedro the Lion, unwillingly lumped into an “independent Christian music” scene.

“The term ‘Christian music’ sounds suspicious to me. It implies some kind of industry, some kind of propaganda, and I resist that at all costs. I mean, is Bach Christian music? Is Johnny Cash Christian music?”

With an avant-garde flair that rewards listeners, but keeps them on their toes, Danielson certainly doesn’t sound “Christian,” compared with the USA’s MOR Christian rock, and its over-produced “alternative” counterpart. Smith is even more of an outcast in that scene than he is in indie rock circles, where talk of spirituality is frowned upon, especially if you’re under 40.

“I just can’t stand that. It seems so ‘rock ’n’ roll,’ and I can’t relate to the ‘Live fast, burn out, die young’ mentality. I’m much more interested in making music until I’m 80, and getting better each year.”

With Oneida at la Sala Rossa on Saturday, Aug. 5, 9 p.m., $12

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