Django Django - Glowing in the Dark

by Fiona Hutchings

published: 7 / 4 / 2021

Label: Because Music
Format: CD

intro

Uplifting and memorable fourth album from critically acclaimed London-based art rock band Django Django

’Spirals’ opens with a sound that invokes raindrops before quickly speeding up to a frantic pace. It swells dramatically, drums kick in and the curtain lifts on Django Django's fourth album. Always original and somehow unexpected, a tiny bit of me is disappointed to read that 'Glowing in the Dark' has a central theme of running from despair, constraints, small towns and escape. In this time of Covid haven't we all been dreaming of escaping the house? Fear not though, they take the idea and run, in several different directions including going off world altogether. The lyric of “the connections we have as humans being stronger than the divisions" is a sentiment that I’ve never wanted to be more true than right now. ‘Waking Up’ is a lighter, more acoustic offering which features actress and singer songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourgh. It feels light, bright and more than a little hypnotic. ‘Headrush’ is an immediate ear worm and so can join ‘Hail Bop’ which has been in residence since 2012. ’The Ark’ is a dark and slightly sinister instrumental and “Night of the Buffalo’ starts with some undertones of the Wild West before an unexpected orchestral coda. ’The World Will Turn’ is beautiful in its simplicity. ‘Kick the Devil Out’ might be my favourite. In my mind there’s shades of Stereo MCS' 'Connected' and it works beautifully. ‘Hold Fast’ sounds like we are floating through dreams, or maybe space and closer ‘Asking For More’ feels like a subliminal message. The title track was inspired by one of Dave Maclean’s (drummer and producer) spoken word records and cushioned in Moog synths and hypnotic drum loops. It’s accompanied by a video directed by Braulio Amado. Shot at the height of lockdown it required some old school DIY type creativity. Amado emailed lead singer Vincent Neff some loose directions. “Then me and my brother in law got a tripod, my phone and a speaker and went to a deserted industrial estate around the back of my house and shot a bunch of stuff.” They sent it to Amado and he went to work. No literal glowing in the dark like the Ready Brek kid to be found here, but instead Neff is in negative and colours spin around him. Images are manipulated like he’s in a hall of mirrors. “In my head the video is somewhat an abstract representation of the song title without being too obvious. I wanted it to feel trippy, vibrant and colourful.” He succeeded. (There is something of the Shaun Ryder trademarked dance going on though. There I said it.) The quartet is rounded out by Jimmy Dixon on bass and Tommy Grace who is listed as ’synthesiser operator’. That must be a job of epic proportions judging by the amount of different sounds, effects and multi layered sounds. Somehow Django Django mange to sound fresh while still sounding exactly like themselves. It’s a fools trend to try and separate out all the different influences. I can say that bit sounds like psychedelic 70’s meets trip hop but them something else drops in and rather than try and unpick it all I surrender to enjoying it instead. This is an uplifting and imaginative offering from a band I have come to expect no less from.

Track Listing:-

1 Spirals
2 Right the Wrongs
3 Got Me Worried
4 Waking Up (feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg)
5 Free from Gravity
6 Headrush
7 The Ark
8 Night of the Buffalo
9 The World Will Turn
10 Kick the Devil Out
11 Glowing in the Dark
12 Hold Fast
13 Asking for More

Band Links:-

http://www.djangodjango.co.uk/
https://soundcloud.com/djangodjango
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Django
https://www.facebook.com/thedjangos
https://twitter.com/thedjangos

Label Links:-

https://instagram.com/becausemusic
http://becausemusic.tumblr.com/
https://twitter.com/becausemusic
https://www.facebook.com/BecauseMusic
http://www.because.tv/

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live reviews

O2 Academy, Liverpool, 13/2/2013

Harry Sherriff attends an uneven NME Awards Tour gig at the Liverpool O2 Academy which saw sets from Django Django, Miles Kane, the Palma Violets and Peace