Besides producing evocative digital pieces, the Baghdad-born, Barcelona-based artist Dania also serves night shifts as an emergency physician. Those late-night shifts serve as the inspiration for her new release Listless: each of the 7 tracks were composed and recorded in the early hours, while the cover features the slender flower of the Japanese snake gourd, a species that only blooms at night. However, you won't find much of the turmoil of her late-night schedule in this music: instead, the album exudes a quiet peacefulness that is at times blissful, sometimes eerie.
Meeting at a point amid downtempo, ethereal rock and atmospheric, and a hint of catchy melodies, the textured tracks slink along dreamily, propelled by waves of synthesizers and, as a new element, percussion. A new addition to Dania’s usual setup, they lend a gentle downtempo kick to several of the tracks. The shuffling, murky beat in Personal Assistant evokes the 1990s-era bands Scala and another, whereas the song Car Crash Premonition is the nearest the album get to urgent. Written following an disturbing cab ride to her studio late one evening, it is simultaneously brooding and dizzying, fit for a movie scene.
Other songs, such as I Know That and another called Write My Name, are more reminiscent of Dania’s previous work: minimalist and formless. The closing track, named A Hunger, has a underwater quality, with gurgling and pinging sounds that resemble medical monitors, interwoven with altered answerphone-style singing.
The artist's gentle, murmuring voice is featured through almost the entirety of the record. The words are almost imperceptible as her vocals are floating, repeated, stacked, at points barely there at all. Growing up in a household where singing was frowned upon, she has stated it’s an activity she has consistently considered personal. Yet this is additionally an inspired decision, augmenting the dream-like atmosphere on the beautiful, intimate record.
New Releases This Month
One Group draw four songs across almost 40 minutes on Inland See. Throughout those lengthy pieces (including an epic 18-minute final track), the Windy City trio deliver a further masterclass in lush, meandering minimalism, with steady loops and effervescent improvisational touches. For the last decade, Timedance (the imprint of UK-based artist one individual) has served as a foundation for low-end focused innovative dance music. Their release TD10 marks that anniversary with twenty-three weighty, unconventional club cuts for any hour of the evening, including input from heavyweight producers like re:ni, another, a third and Batu personally. Motivated in part by personal experiences of agoraphobia and claustrophobia, Fobia (by Other People), the new album by Argentinian sound artist Aylu, is suitably intimate, at moments stiflingly so. Close-contact recordings of labored breaths, swallows and hums build out into curious but frequently beautiful compositions.
