The second album from Canadian-Serbian singer songwriter Dana Gavanski, as the title might suggest, seems to be an exercise in allowing the cosmos to dictate when and if the spark of inspiration will burst forth and bear fruit, rather than rolling up the sleeves and ploughing into the fine detail.
As Gavanski says herself, “this album is about searching for something to excite me back into songwriting” – if that sounds like the words of someone who has fallen out of love with her craft, the songs themselves might appear to reinforce that mindset on first listen. Though she may knowingly be going for the hard sell, dig deeper and a solution is closer to hand than first realised.
Recent single and album opener I Kiss The Night sounds like Nico having a stab at the theme tune to a bittersweet 80s sitcom and though quirky and sweet, seems slight and self-conscious as does the Francoise Hardy-inspired Parisienne puff of Bend Away and Fall. The good bit is, as soon as she allows herself a bit of breathing room, things get increasingly more interesting as the songs get more expansive.
Under the Sky ebbs and flows, edging nearer to the dark power of the multi-layered storytelling on offer in the second half of the album and the jazzy, avant-garde final minute of The Day Unfolds starts to reveal something fascinating, overpainted from before.
What may have started off as Gavanski distractedly picking at the plaster rapidly morphs into a fully focused booting down of the foundations with the lush, dramatic tale of Lisa evoking Weyes Blood at her most cinematic. The Reaper continues in that rich vein, setting her ethereal vocals swooping against an urgent, prodding rhythm line. Maybe this is the blueprint to that artistic excitement that Dana Gavanski yearns for.
When It Comes shows huge potential in both creativity and songwriting ability which seems to blossom within the structure of a longer format. Let’s hope the love affair continues.