Recording an album can be a tricky thing, sometimes taking years to complete. Then there is the matter of promoting the album, which can involve years of touring. Small wonder then that bands can take many years in between these releases.
On the other hand, you could be like Dan Guidance and release three of the buggers in three months!
Even more impressive is that each album is just so damn good! The work rate on show does not negatively impact the songs one bit. There are no fillers here, no tracks that have an air of ‘this will do’, that have been thrown together with little care or forethought. Every track is a 24 carat gold winner. Every one!
Another thing that impresses is that Dan does not limit himself too closely to the strictures of genre-ism, with a huge spectrum of Drum & Bass sounds being present, as well as ventures into Electro, Dubstep and IDM.
The latest Dan Guidance album Freequencies is being released free of charge,on 31st January, via his own Portal label on Bandcamp here, so for those of you new to him and his music, feel free to take advantage of this as a starting point. You will not regret it.
Freequencies gets off to a lively and soulful start with I’ve Got This, a frenetic Liquid Drum & Bass number with a plaintive vocal centering around the title phrase. The vocal is smooth and almost crooned, lending a calm air to some very upbeat music. The effect is upbeat and uplifting, an air of positivity running through the whole thing. It is a song to play when feeling a little overwhelmed with the world, an affirmation that we are able to cope with what life can throw at us. This is music to console and reassure.
Clean Air continues this feel good vibe with a refrain that sounds like a Spanish guitar and piano being played together, so far so chilled. But then the beats kick in and the song completely takes off. Vocals again add a human feel to the song, but they are cut up and incomplete. One area where Dan Guidance really excels is in creating catchy hooks, and Clean Air just overflows with these. There is so much going on, melody comes at you from all angles, but the song never sounds crowded or overdone. The melody wins out.
Lily’s Eyes is a more menacing affair, deep bass pulses come at you out of the dark, coupled with pounding bass drums. The vocals here are fragmented and heavily treated, making no sense and detracting from a human feel rather than adding one. An austere voice comes at us from (presumably) a film sample. The good vibes the album has generated so far are gone and instead we are into a more noir world.
Dan GuidanceI think we have learned enough over the last few months to expect a few curveballs on a Dan Guidance album, so this kind of thing doesn’t throw us too much. He is a man with many colours in his palette.
The light reappears on For You, a blissed out number that would be a perfect accompaniment to an Ibizan sunset. The song ebbs and flows magnificently, slowly building and slowly calming. Half heard voices in the background add to the song’s otherworldly feel.
In Danger brings the beats back, but still maintains a Spanish air, due to the acoustic guitar fills. Off beat drums roll through the song and a wonderfully affecting vocal, complete with harmonies, add substance and charm to the song. Despite the more upbeat nature of In Danger, I am still back in Ibiza, watching the setting sun turn the sky red.
Next track Love Songs takes us back to more familiar Liquid Drum & Bass territory, and is a thing of pure beauty. Six songs in and I can feel myself falling in love with this type of music all over again. There is so much emotion and energy contained in these songs, they are equally suited to chilling out and dancefloor action. This is a difficult tightrope to walk, but these songs do it magnificently.
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Free For All hits us with harder percussion than we have heard so far and the song is driven by these syncopated beats. There is still room for gentleness, as a haunting piano sax and double bass add texture and give the song a jazzy vibe, once again proving Dan Guidance’s disdain for being hemmed in by genre strictures.
Scribbles is a lively number that retains some of the jazzy flourishes of its predecessor. The fast rolling beats barely let up throughout the whole song, giving it an urgent, danceable quality. Dub Shottaz is another curveball, with a more Jungle feel to the drum and bass sounds. Again the energy is high and the song is up in your face. We have left the calm sunset vibe behind and we are now in full flow on a dark club dancefloor.
The dancefloor journey continues with Cybernetics, driven by sub bass grooves and pounding percussion. The images conjured up by this song are again of a dimly lit, packed dancefloor, full of people cutting loose and losing themselves in the music.
Deeper Understanding slows thing down, but keeps the intensity peaking. The song is made up of huge, slowed beats and washes of sound. The beat is the same throughout the song, but other elements come and go. Melody is noticeably absent from this, but that is made up for with the song’s atmospherics.
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Freequencies comes to an end with Change, a slow building, skittery track that combines bleeps and beats, coming together in another slow, huge sounding number. Film samples again add to the atmosphere of this and we can imagine this soundtracking a sci-fi film. The overall effect is of a more up to date take on the likes of Autechre. There is so much sonic variation on this album, but the genius is how it hangs together as a whole.
If you are looking for a way in to Dan Guidance’s music, and we strongly recommend that you do find one, this free gift could be the best place to start. You will find many different things to love here and you will be convinced of the artist’s genius.
Freequencies is one hell of a journey. Come aboard for the ride.
Freequencies is out on 31st January. Download via Bandcamp.
One reply on “Dan Guidance: Freequencies”
[…] fan. In just over six months we have had three full albums in the form of Freedom of Movement, Freequencies and Dan Guidance and Friends and Dan’s usual run of EPs brimming with the very finest Liquid Drum […]