The Artist Dania: Listless – Personal Experimental Pop Inspired by Hospital Late-Night Work
Besides crafting atmospheric electronic compositions, the Baghdad-born, Barcelona-based musician Dania also serves night shifts as an emergency doctor. Those nocturnal shifts serve as the inspiration behind her latest release Listless: each of the seven tracks were written and recorded in the early hours, while the cover showcases the spindly blossom of the Japanese snake gourd, a plant that flowers exclusively at night. However, there is little trace of the turmoil of her overnight schedule here: rather, the record embodies a quiet calm that is at times blissful, sometimes uncanny.
Converging somewhere amid downtempo, ethereal rock and atmospheric, and a hint of catchy melodies, the layered tracks glide dreamily, driven by washes of synthesizers and, for the first time, percussion. A new addition to the artist's typical arrangement, they lend a gentle downtempo rhythm to several of the songs. The meandering, hazy beat in the track Personal Assistant evokes the late-90s bands one group and Seefeel, while Car Crash Premonition is the closest the album get to intense. Written following an unnerving cab ride to her workspace late one evening, it is both brooding and dizzying, ideal for a film montage.
Other tracks, including I Know That and another called Write My Name, are more reminiscent of Dania’s previous work: minimalist and amorphous. The closing track, named A Hunger, has a subaquatic quality, with gurgling and pinging electronics that sound like medical monitors, interwoven with altered answerphone-style vocals.
Dania’s gentle, whispering vocal is featured across nearly the whole of the record. The lyrics are almost imperceptible as her vocals are suspended, looped, layered, at points barely there at all. Having been raised in a household where vocal expression was discouraged, she has stated it’s something she’s consistently considered personal. Yet it’s additionally an brilliant choice, enhancing the dream-like haze on the gorgeous, personal album.
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