The Artist Dania: Listless – Personal Experimental Pop Inspired by Medical Late-Night Work
In addition to crafting evocative digital pieces, the Iraqi-born, Spain-based musician Dania furthermore serves night shifts as an critical care physician. Those nocturnal shifts serve as the inspiration behind her new release Listless: each of the seven songs were composed and recorded in the early hours, and the artwork features the spindly blossom of the Trichosanthes cucumerina, a plant that only blooms after dark. However, there is little trace of the turmoil of her overnight routine in this music: instead, the album exudes a quiet peacefulness that is at times euphoric, occasionally eerie.
Converging at a point amid downtempo, shoegaze and ambient, and a hint of catchy melodies, the layered tracks glide dreamily, driven by waves of synthesizers and, for the first time, percussion. An innovative feature to the artist's usual arrangement, they lend a soft downtempo kick to several of the songs. Its shuffling, hazy rhythm in Personal Assistant recalls the 1990s-era groups Scala and another, whereas the song Car Crash Premonition is the nearest the album get to urgent. Written following an unnerving taxi journey to her studio late one evening, it is both contemplative and woozy, ideal for a film montage.
Other songs, including one titled I Know That and Write My Name, are more reminiscent of Dania’s past work: stripped back and amorphous. The closing track, named A Hunger, has a subaquatic feel, with gurgling and pinging sounds that sound like medical equipment, blended with distorted answerphone-style singing.
Dania’s soft, murmuring voice is featured across nearly the whole of the album. Its words are almost imperceptible as her vocals are suspended, looped, stacked, sometimes almost absent at all. Growing up in a household where vocal expression was frowned upon, she’s said it’s something she’s consistently considered personal. Yet this is additionally an brilliant choice, augmenting the surreal haze on this beautiful, intimate record.
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