space sound : These Semi Feelings, They Are Everywhere, by dné (LP)
half an hour of piano songs and drone-like sequence from Czech Republic
dné is a project founded by Ondřej Holý, a dedicated instrumentalist from the Czech Republic, and the album we’re talking about today is These Semi Feelings, They Are Everywhere (Majestic Casual Records, 2016).
The title already sounds heart-wrenching on its own, and right from the first track, “Meeting Points at 2 AM,” the tone is set with a subtle and delicate piano line, accompanied by distant drones that gradually approach, channeling the sound into a reverberation that lasts just under three minutes.
Toward the end, it shifts slightly into an even more stripped-down atmosphere, and the track transitions into “Public Making Out is Like Ugh,” which builds upon the previous one by adding some electronic elements, glockenspiel-like chimes, and stereo loops that disorient you until they fade out in the second half, only to return after a gentle drop. It feels like a song that was written and forgotten, then remembered and rewritten again.
“Driving a Car While Listening to Bill Burr’s Podcast” is carried by new piano loops, and the sensation here is that of going around in circles while watching a small fire contained in a box. “Stay Clothed Though” is the only non-instrumental song on the album, and the only featuring, with C. Monts. The track flows with the words of the Anglo-Czech feature, with a hint of something Daft Punk–ish.
“Friends Cleanse” is the musical equivalent of rummaging through old boxes to find pictures of a friend who’s now far away. And while you’re doing that, you find at least a dozen more photos you didn’t even remember taking.
“More Like It” brings back the vocal distortion from Stay Clothed Though: the title is repeated at the beginning almost like a commentary, then makes room for piano lines that build into delicate and comforting waves of sound. Later, the loops and returning voice rebuild a tonal unity that completes the track.
“Reality Swallows Pusheen Cats” follows the uncertain vocalizations of [artist], along with their murmurs and soft “mmmmh-like” sounds. The piano — a constant throughout the record — is present here as well, just as it is in “Asos Model Crush”, where percussive and ambient sounds are added, making the listening experience three-dimensional. It’s one of the most touching tracks on the album.
“Unnecessary Conversations” offers a drone-like aerial view of the entire record, almost as if to photograph it as a single entity. Not obvious in the least — definitely essential. Toward the end, glitchy sounds transform this track into the final one on the record, “Kitchen City”, which, in its anticlimactic nature, could actually be seen as the trailer for this album, as it contains everything: from glitches to loops, to piano, to the spatial and temporal depth that emerges from this work.
This debut LP, arriving seven years after the first EP, already feels like a mature piece. It certainly contains ideas that are still in an embryonic form, but the work is packaged with care, consistency, and depth. In any case, it’s an album that gives its best when listened to in one sitting — 30 minutes of sweet disorientation.
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See you next time!