The chaos of life always has a way of creeping on us, wreaking havoc on everything we once thought to be familiar, safe, and constant. Dublin three-piece DIVAN grapple with this jarring reality on their upcoming debut album, Modern Knowledge.
Though they grew up in Ireland’s picturesque countryside, it wasn’t long before the members of DIVAN realized it wasn’t enough for them — they needed a new, and very different, sense of belonging. “I think always having an innate desire to surround yourself with activity & action when all you’ve known is peace & tranquillity comes out in our music,” DIVAN frontman Jamie Clarke says in a press release. “It draws me to people, and also to the art that I love.”
The dualities of noise and silence, peace and bedlam shine throughout the band’s latest LP offering “Shards”. Ringing handclaps and high-flying harmonies are offset by off-kilter time signatures that’ll throw listeners for a little bit of a loop. The track, much like the rest of the record, was produced by someone who knows a thing or two about complex and uncommon arrangements: Brent Knopf of Menomena and EL VY fame.
In a statement to Consequence of Sound, Clarke offers more details behind “Shards”:
“’Shards’ was born out of the idea of writing a 7/8 time signature song that had an immediacy about it. I’ve been interested in this since first hearing ‘7/4 Shoreline’ by Broken Social Scene, but never actually managed to get it right before. The initial sparseness came from seeing bands like Wildbirds & Peacedrums blow my mind with very little instrumentation. Lyrically, it deals with something which has taken up a lot of my head-space over the past couple of years. Music has taken a completely different meaning to me now then when I first picked up a guitar & to be honest, most of the record is about me trying to figure this out. The line ‘Taking back, what’s been owed’ came about from trying to encapsulate these feelings in a somewhat anthemic vocal line that can resonate with people as well as hopefully stick in their heads.”
Stream it below.
