AWKWARD iNL + la loyeNL
Tender and melancholic indiefolk
There is always the longing for something new. For Djurre de Haan – alias AWKWARD i – that longing became the engine behind Unalaska, his fourth album. The title, found as a forgotten coordinate in an old travel journal, became a compass pointing toward an unknown inner landscape: a place that exists and denies itself at the same time. “If I knew where I was going I wouldn’t be on board,” De Haan sings, setting the tone for a musical exploration full of ambiguity and thoughtful wonder.
On Unalaska, De Haan sounds more like himself than ever. From the sparse arrangement of Omaha to the chamber-pop feel of Apocalypse, a rich palette unfolds in which fragility, irony, and melancholy go hand in hand. “Body as a meadow… completely at ease” – these are lines that reveal the organic way his songs come into being: actively waiting until the right notes present themselves.
Recorded in his own Impossible Junction studio with long-time partner David Corel, Unalaska feels like a logical, comforting next step in the AWKWARD i universe: new, unknown, yet unmistakably De Haan.
Under the name la loye, Dutch artist Lieke Heusinkveld explores untrodden paths, wandering along winding trails, dark overgrowth, and unexpectedly clear open spaces. Her music has always been elusive, a quirky exploration within the extremes of the indie-folk genre.