Dana Gavanski, Mark Grundy, Luka Kuplowsky

Purposefully ornamental and expertly crafted, ‘When it Comes’ molds the charm of 1970’s baroque instrumentation into a sound that is distinctly modern — and uniquely Dana Gavanski. 

A Canadian-Serbian artist unafraid of extremes, Dana Gavanski seamlessly blends her love of music from the 50s-70s with mythology. When It Comes is Dana’s most vulnerable record to date, arriving where introversion and extroversion meet, gleaming with inspired tones and earthy hues and filtered through a faded Kodachrome palette.

Just as Dana’s debut Yesterday Is Gone and her covers EP Wind Songs were lauded for their intimacy captured through an innate sense of melody to convey a mood, they traced a timeline of Dana’s teenage years in Vancouver, a move to Montreal and visiting family homes for kitchen talks with her “Baka” (grandma) in Belgrade / Serbia. Her latest was started in Montreal before ending in Belgrade and whilst expressive with French Yé-yé flourishes – offers something altogether more atmospheric and widescreen. 

Led by instinct in its purest form, Dana’s latest chapter is an ode to the voice as an instrument – its power, and how intricately it can deliver words to tug at, and tie knots in, every heartstring.

Opening with music box sweetness, ‘I Kiss The Night’s twinkling piano melody paves the way for the baroque Wurlitzer-like nursery rhyme of ‘Bend & Fall’ and mystical lullaby ‘Under The Sky.’ Alongside humour and caricature (‘The Reaper’), mythological romance and spirituality (‘Knowing to Trust’) and idiosyncratic carnival arpeggio grooves (‘Indigo Highway’), the squelchy staccato and subtle jazzy flecks of ‘The Day Unfolds’ and tension release of ‘Letting Go’ dazzle like bokeh in a Nick Drake haze. The autumnal hymnal of ‘Lisa’ meanwhile, was one of the first, more fictional tracks written for the record, from the viewpoint of the sea, watching the protagonist pass by day after day, offering a metaphorical reflection on the natural world around us. 

with Mark Grundy, Luka Kuplowsky