Dva are frankly are two of the craziest and most experimental people in the music business that manage to stay juuuuust on the right side of creative and artistic without stopping something being utterly alien. With their latest album NIPOMO I’d say they’ve really hit the balance to perfection with my favourite release of theirs to date.
Opener “NIPOMO” takes their love of industrial clicks and bangs and turns them into a looping drum beat whilst various brass instruments and guitars chirp out the main melody. One of my favourite instruments they showcase here is the clarinet as you just don’t hear it in other bands. It gives the otherwise deliriously happy song a bit of shifty side, especially when coupled with the unique singing that Dva provide. Saxophones come to the fore in the strangely alluring and explosive “Mutalu”. The lyrics literally scream “I want to give up!” over and over in the chorus and include pearls of lyrics like “I only go to the bar occasionally – I’m bored” and “My wife always washes my purple shirt”. All this is sung over some amazing music boxes, toy pianos and a freaking out saxophone. “No Survi” is a trippy looptastic track based on funky guitars and organs over a stuttering drum loop whilst “Surfi” turns ping-pong balls into manic drum tracks before we get Dva’s version of a seaside track as ukulele’s and Czech mumblings flow like waterfalls. It’s massively catchy and fun.
“Nunki” reminds me a bit of their Botanicula soundtrack with looping ambience and spacious organic keyboard synths. It’s as close to a normal song structure as they get too but it’s synth abstract pop through and through. “Zoppe” takes a melodica and blows it to hell in a funny vocal montage that sounds like a circus on speed. It’s so unabashedly full of joy and quirk it will suck you in and dance you a jig of happiness. “Meteor” takes things down a notch with a distorted industrial lullaby with soft and cute vocals over a more bombastic drum and noise section. It brings your pulse down somewhat and it like the interlude before the more playful and violent “Vampira” uses the ukulele and comedy vocal loops over a detuned guitar to create a song that sounds like everything was meant to be out of tune slightly. It makes it comical, catchy and slightly spooky too. At half way it then turns into a real synth party as things ramp up to its explosive finale.
“Durango” plays on lots of combining loops and sounds like a cute childrens tv theme song with its happy child singing, tuned percussion and guitar snippets. “Javoricek” then takes all the acoustic instruments and shoves them into a 150 second blender as Dva does their version of a folk song before the beautiful “Vespering” closes the album with toy pianos, tuned percussion and some really uplifting clarinet led joy. It sounds like a lost track from Botanicula and is so catchy and cute, you’ll have it on repeat.
Simply Dva are like no other. I’ve yet to hear anyone come close to their sound and that makes them unique and amazing, yet difficult to sell to others without getting it. I saw someone on Bandcamp say it’s Sigur Ros on speed and that’s vaguely around the ball park. I’d say it’s Sigur Ros on speed in a children’s musical shop being told “you can scream and shout for the next 40 minutes and then you must behave forever afterwards” – and then all hell lets loose. Yes. That’s the perfect description. Job done – buy it!