Last month, we heard the lead single ‘Far Beyond The Sun’, taken from Teleportations, the debut solo album from Dan Leavers aka Danalogue. The forthcoming record sees him stepping out alone after years at the centre of London’s fertile jazz and electronic underground, to present a fully self-realized vision, shaped through analogue synthesis, science fiction and spiritual exploration. Entirely performed using vintage gear, the album draws on kosmische electronics, ambient, jazz-funk and deep house, embracing the constraints of older gear as a way of forging connections between past and future.
Now, Danalogue has shared another glimpse into Teleportations with new single ‘Moebius Triptych’, an euphoric and dreamy dancefloor filler. The single comes with an accompanying video, with visuals by Charles Prest. Here it is.
Dan Leavers, better known as Danalogue, has spent years shaping the UK’s adventurous jazz and electronic underground. Known as one the driving forces behind The Comet Is Coming, as well as one half of Soccer96 and a member of Flock, the trailblazing synthesist, collaborator and producer is a core figure of East London’s Total Refreshment Centre community, and has worked with artists such as Sarathy Korwar, Snapped Ankles, Alabaster DePlume, Momoko Gill and Rozi Plain, amongst many others.
Back in November, Danalogue shared his debut solo single, ‘Sonic Hypnosis’ and hinted at a new album. Now, details of his debut solo album have finally emerged. Entitled Teleportations, the record was entirely performed by him, using mostly vintage analogue gear, including instruments such as the Roland Juno-60, SH-09 and Jupiter-4, alongside Oberheim synths and old samplers. According to the press release, Danalogue embraced the limitations and tactility of older machines as a way of forging a “time bridge” with earlier eras of electronic experimentation, not to recreate the past, but to imagine “travelling back with modern sensibilities and telling the future through old machines”. Science fiction plays a central role in the album, with Danalogue drawing inspiration from ideas around astral travel, theta brainwaves and collective consciousness, as well as from the work of figures like Jean Giraud, Ernst Bloch and Hayao Miyazaki. The mythology extends further through a short story written alongside the record, imagining an advanced lifeform capable of converging brainwaves into a shared stream of consciousness and travelling across space. Danlogue’s idea was to invite listeners to a “teleportation programme”, where sound and motion guide them through shifting emotional states. Teleportations is described as “a warm, playful and immersive album that transforms endings, grief and personal upheaval into a vivid science-fictional voyage of escape, healing and renewal.”
Musically, the upcoming record draws from celestial ambience, kosmische electronics, space disco, jazz-funk and deep Detroit house, and Danalogue cites artists such as Joe Meek, Wendy Carlos, Isao Tomita, Laurie Spiegel, Mort Garson and Terry Riley, and groups like Harmonia and Kluster, as influences.
We’ll have to wait until May 29th for Teleportations to be out through Castles in Space but we can already hear the first single, ‘Far Beyond The Sun’, a sensual and hypnotic space-age ballad about crossing the galaxy to meet a loved one in the afterlife. The single comes with accompanying visuals made by Charles Prest. Watch it now.
As one of the driving forces behind bands like The Comet Is Coming, Soccer96 and Flock, Danalogue aka Dan Leavers has spent years shaping the UK’s music scene. A core member of East London’s legendary Total Refreshment Centre, he is a trailblazing synthesist, collaborator, and producer-in-demand, who has worked with an array of exciting artists, including Sarathy Korwar, Snapped Ankles, Alabaster DePlume and Rozi Plain, to mention but a few. Now Danalogue is stepping out on his own with his debut solo single, ‘Sonic Hypnosis’. Described as “an electronic mantra for a positive state of change”, the single was “written amidst tumultuous times”. ‘Sonic Hypnosis’ is both a dancefloor dream and a call for healing, wrapped up in a catchy and hypnotic chant. The track is accompanied by a video, created by Innerstrings, the artist behind visuals for the likes of Overmono and James Holden. What’s more, Danalogue has also teased a full-length album, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more leading up to its May release. Now check out the banger that is ‘Sonic Hypnosis’.
