As fierce as the inclement weather itself, the ethereal tones of Serbian-Canadian musician Dana Gavanski can stir a breeze and destroy like a storm. With her new covers EP Wind Songs Dana serendipitously teases her debut album from her new home in London across both sides of enforced isolation, to show an artist making the best of an unfortunate circumstance and seeking comfort in the familiar strangers of her musical heroes.
Dana has so far shared two tracks from Wind Songs; “I Talk To The Wind”, originally performed by King Crimson, and “At Last I Am Free”, originally written and performed by Chic and Robert Wyatt. Today, Dana has shared “Never Too Far”, originally by Tim Hardin, and shared a few words on why she chose this particular track to cover:
“I got into Tim Hardin 1 in the last year and something about “Never Too Far” struck me. It’s cheeky, and upbeat but also quite melancholic. There’s a strangeness to it I can’t put my finger on, a tension of intent. On my last tour, before lockdown, James and I played this song in most of the sets with an old analogue Roland drum machine so it was great to get into the studio and explore it a bit more…”
With multiple festivals and shows across France, Germany, and North America on pause, Dana utilised solitude to form deeper connections with the artists who inspire her. She has recorded her unique renditions of songs like a time capsule of her journey so far; from teenage years in Vancouver to kitchen table talk with her mother and grandma “baka” about love, life, sex, art, relationships, and psychology, and selling her records for a move to Montreal: “I kind of forgot about King Crimson for some time,” Dana says of her EP’s cover of their song, ‘I talk to the wind,’ “and only got back into them early last year. Ian McDonald’s beautiful flute solos throughout the song, the mellow vocals and symphonic arrangements all come together to make it beautifully moody.”
With echoes of Vashti Bunyan and a hint of airy wistfulness akin to Cate Le Bon, writing is how Dana makes sense of life’s bumps in the road. Her forthcoming album Yesterday Is Gone, which will get a full release in September, took shape after she returned from a writing residency in Banff, Alberta where she’d begun to learn the art of being alone with her emotions. Rooted in the intimacy of folk songwriting, it explores a different sonic texture and as a full band, Dana co-produced her record with Toronto-based musician Sam Gleason and Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP – adding to the good company already kept on tour with Damien Jurado and Chris Cohen. Yesterday Is Gone is Dana’s attempt to ‘learn to say what I feel and feel what I say’ through her own beguiling sound, with each component meticulously placed and yielding a deeply sincere response to the chaos of human emotion.
For now, all Dana wishes is for Wind Songs to be enjoyed whilst she tentatively feels her way and steps towards giving her album the full attention it deserves. “Often we have to go a little far in one direction to learn something about ourselves,” Dana says. With an optimistic, steely-eyed gaze towards the future, it looks like Dana has no choice but to keep going, wherever the wind may take her.
