Dania: Her Album Listless – Personal Underground Pop Shaped by Hospital Night Shifts
In addition to producing atmospheric digital compositions, this Baghdad-born, Barcelona-based musician Dania furthermore works overnight duties as an critical care doctor. Those late-night shifts are the influence behind her latest album Listless: all 7 tracks were written and recorded in the early hours, and the cover features the spindly blossom of the Japanese snake gourd, a species that only blooms after dark. But, you won't find much of the turmoil of her late-night schedule here: instead, the record exudes a quiet peacefulness that is at times euphoric, sometimes uncanny.
Converging somewhere amid downtempo, ethereal rock and atmospheric, and a hint of catchy melodies, the layered songs slink along hypnotically, driven by waves of synthesizers and, for the first time, percussion. A new addition to Dania’s typical setup, they add a gentle slow-paced rhythm to several of the songs. Its shuffling, murky rhythm in Personal Assistant evokes the 1990s-era groups one group and another, whereas Car Crash Premonition is the closest things get to urgent. Written following an unnerving taxi journey to her workspace late one evening, it is simultaneously contemplative and woozy, fit for a film montage.
Additional tracks, including one titled I Know That and Write My Name, are closer in style of Dania’s past output: stripped back and formless. The final song, named A Hunger, possesses a underwater quality, with bubbling and pinging electronics that resemble medical equipment, interwoven with distorted answerphone-style singing.
The artist's soft, murmuring voice is featured across almost the entirety of the record. Its words are hardly discernible as her voice are floating, looped, stacked, sometimes almost absent at all. Growing up in a home where vocal expression was discouraged, she’s said it’s an activity she has always felt private about. Yet it’s additionally an brilliant decision, augmenting the surreal atmosphere on this beautiful, personal record.
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