Dania: Her Album Listless – Intimate Experimental Pop Inspired by Medical Late-Night Work
Besides crafting evocative digital pieces, this Iraqi-born, Barcelona-based musician Dania also works overnight duties as an emergency doctor. Those nocturnal hours are the influence behind her new release Listless: all 7 songs were composed and produced in the early hours, and the artwork showcases the spindly flower of the Japanese snake gourd, a plant that only blooms at night. But, you won't find much of the chaos of her late-night schedule here: rather, the record exudes a quiet peacefulness that is sometimes euphoric, occasionally eerie.
Converging at a point between downtempo, ethereal rock and atmospheric, and a hint of pop, the layered tracks glide hypnotically, propelled by waves of synths and, for the first time, drums. A new addition to the artist's typical arrangement, these drums add a soft slow-paced kick to several of the tracks. The shuffling, hazy rhythm in Personal Assistant recalls the 1990s-era groups Scala and another, whereas the song Car Crash Premonition is the closest things come to intense. Composed after an disturbing taxi journey to her workspace one night, it is both brooding and woozy, fit for a film montage.
Additional tracks, including one titled I Know That and Write My Name, are more reminiscent of Dania’s previous work: stripped back and formless. The final song, A Hunger, possesses a subaquatic quality, with bubbling and pinging sounds that sound like medical monitors, blended with distorted voicemail-like singing.
Dania’s soft, whispering vocal is featured across nearly the whole of the album. Its words are almost imperceptible as her voice are suspended, repeated, layered, sometimes barely there entirely. Having been raised in a home where vocal expression was frowned upon, she’s said it’s something she has consistently considered private about. Yet this is additionally an brilliant decision, augmenting the surreal haze on this gorgeous, personal record.
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