… Of the week: Dahna, MoonJuice
Image credits:http://www.thedahnaproject.com/
By: Tom Hurst
This week, I found Dahna’s MoonJuice EP, which was released on the 28th August 2016. I came across the project after the London-based collective followed me on Instagram, exploiting the time-proven method of getting more people to look at their art (not because I’m special), and it worked – for me at least!
Their aesthetic is engaging, so I got in touch to find out more about the curious body of work. The cover art was created by Matts Coreal and features a samurai, meant to represent ‘the warrior within us all’, as Dahna means ‘Deity or God(ess), known as a super natural being’, the collective informed me.
The group creates ‘music and art, inspired by many different musical and cultural backgrounds’, according to Dahna, they ‘aim to tell a story … with positive and self-empowering messages, the music intends to become a healing process of expression both for the collective and their audience’. These messages are clear when listening to the vocals of Sizwe Mtwana. Dahna is contributing to the new wave of neo-soul coming out of London, ticking lots of boxes, while making their wide range of influences clear within their own diverse sound.
The sound is organic and unique; the way her voice works in tandem with the saxophone on the album-titled track, 'MoonJuice', and with the flute on 'Fruit', is a thing of beauty. The beats, mainly produced by Matthew Lysser and Santiago Morales, would provide great listening on their own.
See below for links to their Instagram page and a SoundCloud link to MoonJuice.
Image credits:http://www.thedahnaproject.com/