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Four years after their fairly subdued ‘The Shepherd’s Dream’ album, Die Anarchistische
Abendunterhaltung, commonly known as DAAU, are finally ready to launch a new
recording. ‘Eight Definitions’ is the seventh album by the Antwerp based band in twenty
years (at least if we ignore the ‘Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain EP’ and the rarities
collection ‘Ghost Tracks’). Recently, the guys also wrote the soundtrack for ‘L’Hiver Dernier’
(2012), a movie by the Belgian-American director John Shank.
Since their last record, DAAU’s line-up has gone through some changes again. Cellist and
founding member Simon Lenski has left the familiar nest in order to move to Berlin. Not only
did his departure affect the group’s musical dynamics, inevitably it also changed their sound.
Currently DAAU consists of Han Stubbe (clarinet), Roel Van Camp (accordeon) and Hannes
d’Hoine (double bass), but in concert the trio will be supplemented by drummer Steven
Cassiers (a member of Dez Mona and Dans Dans), who was also actively involved with the
recording of ‘Eight Definitions’.
Cellist Simon and violin player Buni Lenski, who quit after ‘Domestic Wildlife’, both guest
on the new album. Buni’s contributions can even be heard on five out of the seven tracks.
“DAAU remains like a family to us”, Stubbe says. “Hence the Lenski brothers are likely to play
on our future recordings, and they will continue sharing the stage with us whenever they
have the time to do so.”
The music on ‘Eight Definitions’ is rich in detail, but it sounds somewhat more minimalistic
than on the preceding album. ‘The Shepherd’s Dream’ came out of collective improvisations
and boasted the vibe of a live show. DAAU’s new album, on the other hand, is based more
on the output of the individual musicians. All members introduced pieces separately
and immersed themselves in a slightly more artificial sound world. “We look at ‘Eight
Definitions’ as a cinematic trip”, Stubbe explains. “The tracks are meant to take the listener
on a journey, but they never force themselves on him/her.”
For DAAU, the dark and brooding ‘The Shepherd’s Dream’ marked a return to their roots:
the music was a mixture of ingredients, taken from classical, folk, rock, tango, klezmer and
flamenco. This time however, the band resolutely opted for a lighter approach. “Most of
the compositions radiate a pure ‘joie de vivre’, Han Stubbe offers. “It is true that some of
the tracks are drenched in a dreamy, even melancholic atmosphere, but we tried hard not to
make them sound oppressive.”
‘Eight Definitions’ is most definitely related to all the albums the band has released so far.
‘1992’ for example, is a nostalgic glance at their early days. ‘Anbau’, with its energetic
playing and distorted violins, seems to revive the period of ‘We Need New Animals’. ‘Delete
Alt and Undo’ shows a kinship with the bizarre electro of ‘Life Transmission’ and ‘Feniks’
could even have been an outtake from ‘The Shepherd’s Dream’.
“In a sense ‘Eight Definitions’ sums up two decades of DAAU”, Stubbe says. “It’s a sometimes
wistful, sometimes ecstatic ode to the days of our youth. But at the same time, the music
has taken on new forms and a different emotional weight. The big challenge for us, while
finishing the album, was to avoid scrappiness and, despite the variety of references, to
maintain stilistic coherence.” That is why DAAU had ‘Eight Definitions’ mixed in Berlin by
Boris Wildorf, the well-known producer of Einstürzende Neubauten. Wildorf showed a huge
respect for the band’s compositions, but was creative enough to imbue the record with his
own personality.
DAAU’s previous record had escapism as its main theme, but ‘Eight Definitions’ tells a totally
different story. “We are living in dark times”, Hannes d’Hoine emphasizes. “Every day we
are dealing with doom and gloom and we are confronted with an epidemy of negativism.
Therefore we found it important to go against the grain and present the audience with an
alternative. Instead of letting ourselves fall into a downward spiral, we believe the end of
every cycle marks a new beginning. This explains why the artwork of our new album shows
the image of a phoenix rising up from its ashes.”
DAAU is a group in permanent transition. The members keep growing artistically, but do so
without sacrificing their immediately identifiable character. As musicians, they acknowledge
their past but at the same time they detach themselves from it. The bottom line however is
that their work is defined by hope and vitality. To put it shortly: ‘Eight Definitions’ is a clear
statement from a band not afraid to resist the spirit of the age.
