You Can and You Shall is very much a musical benchmark to my ears, finding solace within strong, yet simple builds and progressions. The hallmark of this work being, is that it’s music you can dance to in both mind and body.
A musical benchmark, finding solace within strong, yet simple builds and progressions
Still very much in its infancy (just a few months), Scottish label Werra Foxma Records is already feeling one’s oats with a whole host varied releases. Dohnavùr, a new electronic double act, sounds back to the pioneering days of the mid 90’s electronic duo. Their album You Can and You Shall is very much a musical benchmark to my ears, finding solace within strong, yet simple builds and progressions. The hallmark of this work being, is that it’s music you can dance to in both mind and body.
This clever number of sounds has me hearing elements of some very successful electronic acts. The opening track “Accept And Move On,” a six and a half minute journey wouldn’t sound out of place on Leftfield’s 1995 Leftism release. With its driving, lower end 303 patterns, along with rolling breaks and ethereal pads effectively melting away ones dominant thoughts. It’s also great to hear the 303 sound used in this way. It’s very new age, especially the string/voice work.
Then comes “Dice Mountain.” Hail the four to the floor homage to the dance floor. It’s a tribal sound I’ve missed. This one is so hauntingly so, that it sounds like the ghost of raves past. With all this social distancing wouldn’t it be great to be dancing, crushed up alongside some topless sweaty raver that could do with a wash. We wouldn’t mind for that experience now. Especially with the tribal nature of such a pumping esoteric track pounding away to the rhythm of our hearts.
The 808 pounds away on “Silk Merchant”—its fierce force and acid rhythms like an anaphylactic shock. Fans of Legowelt would like this one. It has a sting in its tail. So far this release sounds like a homage to everything that has been going on within electronic music for the last 30 years. And then…
A nuclear musical bomb detonates. “Concert Matinal des Oiseaux (ft. Bryce Kitcher)” took me very much by surprise. I feel like the beginning of the album has brought me to a false sense of security. I was busy dancing away and then this 2-minute bomb explodes. A musical and philosophical warning about nuclear annihilation. Despite the traumatic nature in this warning, musically it is really quite pleasant.
From here on in the album sounds very different. It changes direction and becomes a message of philanthropy and altruism. “Apology Echo (ft. Miss Leading)” again features guest vocals, quite clever word play. The track envisions a time where we are to leave our home planet set up settlements elsewhere. Is that idea that we mess this place up so much that we have no option but to leave? It certainly seems that our art is starting to reflect this idea. A planetary birthing moment and it is absolutely gorgeous in how it sounds. Definitely my favourite moment of this unbelievably perfect recording.
The latter half of the album becomes a lot more vocal. With guest appearances from other artists such as Tegan Northwood, whose music has now fallen into my lap. So I’m going now to give her a listen and so I shall stop the review here. The last few pieces of music contain all the reasons why you need to listen and support this artist. I will end quoting a phrase from the track “Little Victories (ft. Kris Renji):”
“The world can be such a cold and dark place, but if enough people hold up a light you can see the beauty for miles without the sun in the sky.”
You Can And You Shall is available on Werra Foxma. [Bandcamp]
