TN:152 Olly Alexander & Danny L Harle

John is joined by Olly Alexander and producer Danny L Harle, to talk about how they wrote, recorded and produced ‘Polari’

Olly Alexander is an English singer, actor, and LGBTQ+ activist, best known as the frontman of Years & Years. The band found global success in the mid 2010’s with the hit ‘King’ and released two UK #1 albums before Olly transitioned to a solo career. As well as representing the UK at Eurovision in 2024 with ‘Dizzy’, Olly has collaborated with numerous pop icons including Elton John and Kylie Minogue. His 2025 album Polari was co-written and produced by Danny L Harle, a sought-after British producer known for his work on P.C. Music, and with artists including Charli XCX, and Caroline Polachek and many more.

Catching up at Strongroom Studios, where Olly recorded most of the album’s vocals, the conversation explores the stories and sounds behind each track. Along the way, they share early demos featuring Olly’s first vocal musings, while Danny discusses songwriting habits, optimising a producer’s workflow, and techniques for achieving a creative flow state.

Tracks discussed: Whisper In The Waves, Cupid’s Bow, Beautiful, Polari

TAPE IT

Thanks to our friends at Tape It for supporting the podcast.

Visit tape.it/tapenotes or use the promo code TAPENOTES in the app to get 20% off.

MUSIVERSAL

Skip the waitlist and get your discount HERE

LISTEN to ‘Polari’ here.

LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES  

linktr.ee/tapenotes 

Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective - https://lynkify.in/song/sunshine-buddy/YT47TLFI 

GEAR MENTIONS

Korg Triton

Rhizomatic Synthesis Plasmonic

Waves Tune

Valhalla Room

Tenor Viol

Korg MS-10

Yamaha RX5 Drum Machine

Roland GAIA

Audacity

Logic Varispeed

Logic

OUR GEAR

https://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear

HELP SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you'd like to help support the show you can join us on Patreon, where among many things you can access full length videos of most new episodes, ad-free episodes and detailed gear list breakdowns.

KEEP UP TO DATE

For behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on: 

Instagram: @tapenotes 

Twitter: @tapenotes 

Facebook: @tapenotespodcast  

YouTube: Tape Notes Podcast

Discord: Tape Notes

Patreon: Tape Notes

To let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear! 

Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk

TAPE NOTES TEAM

John Kennedy

Will Brown 

Tim Adam-Smith 

Will Lyons 

Nico Varanese 

Guy Nicholls 

Jessica Clucas

Ali Lewis