Described in these pages as curiously enigmatic, Dana Gavanski released her debut album ‘Yesterday is Gone’ in 2020, described by Thomas Blake as something visible from all sides and yet still full of secrets. During the making of her 2022 follow-up, When It Comes, she literally lost her voice. In his review, Blake highlighted how her unorthodox compositions coaxed complexity out of deceptively simple songs, describing the album as triumphant and multifaceted – the sound of an artist finding her voice in some style.
For her third album, Late Slap (released 5th April 2024 via Full Time Hobby), her songwriting delves far deeper – “The album holds together the seemingly disparate aspects of my character that I have sometimes tried to repress,” says Dana. “With this album I’m letting them into the room, celebrating them for all their strangeness – a strangeness which I think we all, on some level, share.” The album has been described as carrying a newfound confidence and energy—in both her writing and singing—borne, paradoxically, from embracing feelings of discomfort – a tension that’s also expressed in the album artwork and the video for the album opener, How To Feel Uncomfortable, which was directed by Ella Margolin.
The album was recorded with Mike Lindsay (Tunng, LUMP) and her band at MESS, the producer’s studio in Margate. The five-piece, which includes Gavanski’s fellow co-producer James Howard (Rozi Plain, Alabaster dePlume), tracked the record over five days. “I knew Mike could help me find the range of sound I was looking for; he has an amazing attention to sonic detail and we’ve worked well together on previous records.” Lindsay acquired a Yamaha DX7 synth at Dana’s request just for the album, and they used it to conjure an atmosphere of digital warmth that recalls Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s meditative masterpiece Keyboard Fantasies.
LATE SLAP Tracklisting
- How To Feel Uncomfortable
- Let Them Row
- Late Slap
- Ears Were Growing
- Singular Coincidence
- Song For Rachel
- Eye On Love
- Ribbon
- Dark Side
- Reiteration
LATE SLAP is released 5th April on vinyl, CD and digital via Full Time Hobby. Pre-order various formats here.
Gavanski also has an intimate live show at Folklore, London – 7th Feb