On the 30th of September, Herman Dune (French-Swedish songwriter David Ivar) releases ‘The Portable Herman Dune Vol 1‘, an acoustic anthology, the first of three parts, in which 22 years of songwriting are laid bare, stripped to the most intimate bone, to be released at intervals over the coming months.
His 2018 album Santa Cruz Gold got its long-awaited physical release earlier this year while his last studio album Notes from Vinegar Hill left a lasting impression:
Herman Dune has always been difficult to pin down. Is it a band or a solo project? A confessional songwriter or an invented character? Anti-folk or classic rock? It’s possible to be all of these things at once, particularly in a place as multifaceted as LA…he has made a record that sounds on first listen like it could have been recorded at any point in the last fifty years, but in reality is uniquely and intelligently current, an album of the year in every sense. Thomas Blake, Folk Radio
Tomorrow sees the release of his second album single and opener ‘Why Would That Hurt? (If You Never Loved Me)’. Originally written as a letter, its demo still exists somewhere, as an answering-machine message on someone’s phone. With David Ivar on voice and guitar, he is joined by Jolie Holland on fiddle. The machine-gun-like lyrics and fast finger-picking find a lingering and lamenting fiddle as counterpoint, echoing the hurt and the sadness in the sometimes humorous quips. Mentions of Teddy Bears, Alanis Morissette and Cigarettes are all timely memories of David’s youth in the early 00s. For the video, David Ivar tries to capture the ‘love-letter’ feeling with hand-written lyrics and a super 8 selfie camera. Directed and Edited by David Ivar.
Don’t miss his live UK dates in October (dates and ticket links below)
Centre-stage on ‘The Portable Herman Dune Vol 1‘ are David Ivar’s songs, with his 1954 guitar, his 1930s mandolin, and his voice, plus exceptional guests: Julie Doiron, Mayon (Ivar’s life partner), Caitlin Rose, Jolie Holland, and Kimya Dawson providing vocal counterpoint.
On the album, he shares: “During the pandemic, I started to perform sets from my kitchen. A weekly rendez-vous with my fans simply called “The Sunday Transmission with Herman Dune.” I’d typically do a 13-song set, read the horoscope, do raffles, and read poetry. It became the only way to express myself and do a set of consecutive songs. I got back in touch with my lyrics and voice. Playing from my own songbook was like re-discovering the tunes for the first time. Some songs really stood out as having gained strength and meaning, and I started thinking of recording them for an album. It felt like this was the way it should always have been.
“The more I recorded, the more songs I had on my hands, and I got more excited. I had more songs than could be listened to at once, and they were all so important to me, so I started thinking in Volumes.”
All the recordings were made live in Ivar’s wooden cabin of a studio in San Pedro, the harbour of Los Angeles. You can hear the old floorboards creaking, a dog barking, or the neighbours driving loud motorcycles. Feet tapping, birds singing, and the cat meowing when songs quiet down. Harmonica and mandolin are only discreet additions to the core of the songs, Ivar on guitar and vocals.
Herman Dune UK Dates
October 2022
08 London – Union Chapel (Tickets)
09 Frome – The Tree House (Tickets)
11 Manchester – Band On The Wall (Tickets)
12 Brighton – The Rose Hill (Tickets)
The Portable Herman Dune Vol 1 is released on 30 September 2022.