From Spring Demos on Fox Food Records to Yesterday is Gone on Full Time Hobby, Flemish Eye and Ba Da Bing, Canadian-Serbian songwriter Dana Gavanski has developed her sound from an “unpolished, organic” style which “straddl[ed] the gap between bedroom pop and a more classic folk” to something far larger and richer. “[Yesterday is Gone] is a more mature record,” we wrote in a review, “one which shows the development of Gavanski’s artistic vision and practice. Which is not to say it is free of uncertainty, far from it, but now such doubt is not ignored or airbrushed but embraced as a fundamental part of art and life itself.”
This spring sees the release of a brand new Dana Gavanski record, When It Comes, again released by Full Time Hobby. But, it represents more than the next step in the evolution of her sound thanks to a process of healing ‘lost’ vocal cords. “In many ways this record feels like it is my first,” Gavanski explains. “When I could use my voice, I had to focus so there is an urgency and greater emotional trajectory than before… it’s very connected to vocal presence, which extended into an existential questioning of my connection to music. It felt like a battle at times, which I frequently lost.”
What emerges is a record more unguarded and ambitious than its predecessors, following a strengthened trust in intuition gained through this newfound focus on the voice. Take single ‘Indigo Highway’, a Moog-centric track that captures the sincerity and playful absurdity of a dream. Not only does it push far beyond the pop structures of Yesterday is Lost, but the subject matter is equally challenging. A tribute to a childhood relationship now lost forever. Plunging back through time—through the events that followed, the changes inside and out—to return to the innocence of those days.
“From the beginning of my interest in songwriting, I’d tried many times to write about this relationship and never could,” Gavanski explains. “It felt too fragile, too fraught with experience and distant in many ways.” However faraway the time feels, no matter what came next, ‘Indigo Highway’ endeavours to return to what made the relationship special. “This song is like a prayer,” Gavnaski continues, “or a way back, temporarily, to innocence and silliness and sunshine on a field.”
when you come over
and visit me
we’ll sit by the willow treei’ll find your face
it’s changing in different ways
and i’m looking around to see
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Check out the video directed and edited by Daisy Dickinson below:
When It Comes is out on the 29th April via Full Time Hobby and you can pre-order it now from the Dana Gavanski Bandcamp page.
