Dania: Listless – Personal Experimental Music Shaped by Medical Late-Night Work
In addition to crafting evocative electronic compositions, the Iraqi-born, Barcelona-based musician Dania furthermore works overnight duties as an critical care doctor. Those late-night hours are the influence for her latest album Listless: all seven songs were written and recorded in the early hours, and the artwork features the spindly flower of the Trichosanthes cucumerina, a plant that flowers exclusively at night. However, you won't find much of the chaos of her late-night schedule here: rather, the record embodies a quiet calm that is at times blissful, occasionally eerie.
Converging somewhere between trip-hop, ethereal rock and ambient, with a touch of pop, the textured songs glide dreamily, propelled by washes of synthesizers and, as a new element, percussion. An innovative feature to the artist's usual arrangement, they lend a soft downtempo kick to a number of the tracks. The meandering, hazy beat in Personal Assistant recalls the 1990s-era bands Scala and Seefeel, while Car Crash Premonition is the nearest the album come to urgent. Written following an disturbing taxi journey to her studio one night, it is both contemplative and woozy, fit for a movie scene.
Additional songs, including I Know That and another called Write My Name, are closer in style of Dania’s past work: minimalist and amorphous. The final song, named A Hunger, possesses a underwater feel, with bubbling and pinging sounds that sound like medical equipment, blended with distorted answerphone-style singing.
The artist's soft, murmuring vocal is featured through almost the entirety of the record. Its words are almost imperceptible as her vocals are suspended, looped, stacked, sometimes barely there at all. Having been raised in a household where singing was frowned upon, she’s said it’s an activity she has always felt personal. But this is additionally an inspired choice, enhancing the dream-like atmosphere on this gorgeous, personal record.
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