update:29.07.2005

coming soon squares on both sides new release : dunaj streetdate: 28th august 2005

tracklisting: k to our sounds lungs zlaty 2 speedboats to your steps ladder-telescopes forehead and chin dunaj CSAD deutsche version Dunaj is the second album of squares on both sides, the musical project of the Berliner-by-choice Daniel Buerkner. The 23-year-old is recording his tracks all by himself, interweaving a wide range of instruments, such as acoustic and electric guitars, a harmonium, a piano and his withdrawn singing to create calm assemblages. Despite having been generated over a long period of time, the result is a self contained unit, of course set in the open language that is characteristic to the music of squares on both sides. This distinct language is reduced and well chosen; and yet, within all of the compositorial stringency, a kind of jollity can be found that is evidence of the wide scope Daniel Buerkner can still act within, the space there is between the threads he strung himself. Sharing a characteristic picture and sound language, dunaj continues the tradition of the last album croquet and yet opens up a whole new cosmos. The dark smokescreens, that electronic interludes once created, have turned into lifting electronic streams, unobtrusively laving around the organic parts of the music at carefully chosen moments. Apertures on the surface become visible, and the light of playful chimes and a melodica can be seen. The repeating motive of singing birds on dunaj pushes the impression further in the direction of a musical clearance. And yet, the main emphasis in squares on both sides' music remains a darkened character of puzzle. After all, the birds' singing has either been alienated or can hardly be heard. The peculiar quality of the recording, which thoughtfully combines the hissing of field recordings from a tape recorder with the clear voices of the instruments, the strong presence of the melancholy singing, as well as the minimalist, pointed arrangements create a world within ourselves, which doesn't reveal its meaning to us, but somehow, in its very own logic works and lives. The intentional omission of the singing on the last track CSAD, for example, makes the singing in some way audible within our selves. A picture of its own comes into being on dunaj. Buerkner's Lyrics draw scenarios to which we will hardly be able to develop a rational access to. A personal world slowly opens up, puzzled enough to keep its intimate space far from awkwardness; outlandish and somehow close at the same time, like the title dunaj - the Slovak term for the river Danube - could suggest. The puzzle, the listener is confronted with is of course demanding, but never with enforcement. You don't have to get involved with it, but you're invited to. In any case, it's recommended warmly to you.