Dans Dans

3

Image of Dans Dans - 3
Record Label
Unday

About this item

Dans Dans are a group consisting of Bert Dockx (Flying Horseman) Fred Lyenn (bass player for Mark Lanegan, Duke Garwood, Shelley Hirsch and Petra J) and Steven Cassiers (Dez Mona) and are “bound by a mutual love for improvisation and an intuitive musical kinship”. They are a three-piece from Belgium, split between Antwerp and Brussels who have deep-planted roots in improvised free-jazz and for whom “No pre-determined arrangement is strictly respected at any time.” It’s a dichotomously regimented approach in which by setting such an unbreakable rule it actually allows the group to experiment extensively and to not be bound by genre, despite regularly moving through plenty of them in their music - be it at break-neck speed via careering psychedelic post-rock or through nocturnal ambient echoes. The very nature and fundamental essence of Dans Dans, and 3, lies in unpredictability, or as Lyenn himself says, “Arrangements are rather indications than rigid rules and boundaries. Anything is susceptible to change.”

Mystery and ambiguity were driving factors behind Dans Dans approach to 3, as Dockx points out, “Dans Dans is an organic fusion of three individuals each with their own specific musical cultures. It’s not a compromise though, rather some kind of mysterious but natural cosmic bond - without boundaries.” The resulting record is one that switches paces, moods and tempos as frequently as it does genres. Attempting to pinpoint an overall mood captured on the record is tough but Dockx tries, “The music is often dark and moody, but - for me - there's great beauty to be found in the shadows, and all art is about mood.” In their own words the end product of 3 is “Jazz without stuffiness, rock without blinkers and avant-garde without pretentiousness.”

3 is the group’s third album in two years, capturing a band in the midst of a creative flurry, some of which is down to the jazz-tinged roots of the group, as Dockx says, “Even though Dans Dans doesn't sound like a jazz band, the modus operandi of the group is still quite jazz-like and jazz musicians often release several albums per year, which is possible because of the improvisational and spontaneous nature of the music.” With Lyenn adding, “It’s that momentum of creation that we like to present, whether it’s live or on record.”

The name of the new album 3 says a lot: more than ever before, Dans Dans is about three people interweaving and connecting, creating music together, shaping their ideas into single, cohesive arrangements. Harmony is not necessarily the key though; Lyenn, Cassiers and Dockx approach each other like circling wild dogs: testing, challenging and confronting one another.

Dans Dans, aside from offering vast and varied insights into musical experimentation via the end result of 3, also offer something of a snapshot of life in Belgium and perhaps a slightly split and varied artistic culture within it, one that adds to the group’s own unique output, as Bert tells us, ”Belgium is a small country, nobody really cares what's happening here. There’s little chauvinism, especially compared to larger countries. Inside this tiny and very young country, there are two official languages, and at least two main cultures that barely understand each other. Our national identity is weird and fucked up, and full of blind spots and misunderstandings. This probably leaves its mark on the music created here.”

TRACK LISTING

A1 Zephyr
A2 Take A Close Look
A3 Fleurette Africaine
A4 Bloed En Dromen
B1 Memento Mori
B2 Coffee Grounds
B3 Miraggio
B4 Htes To Vradi Sto Teke Mas

You may also like

Back to top