by Khagan Aslanov (@virgilcrude)
There’s something brewing in Ohio aside from rollercoasters, buckeye trees, and oddly beautiful rock formations. Of course, to those in the know, that has always been the case. Over the decades, the state has given rise to some of the most urgent and beloved indie punk this side of the Bowery – Devo, Pere Ubu, Guided by Voices and the Breeders all cut their teeth in the Heart of It All. Columbus experimental quartet DANA might be relative newcomers to the game, but if their newest LP, Clean Living, is any indication, this manic collective are well on their way to the state pantheon.
Much like their predecessors Pere Ubu, DANA are determined to move only on contorted trajectories, and the songs of Clean Living come at you like lit pinwheels. Lead singer and thereminist Madeline Jackson’s vocals sit someplace grand between the unchaste aloofness of Kim Gordon and the curt, angular authority of Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe, while guitarist Chris Lute skronks, slinks, and screeches himself blind over the elasticated rhythm section of Dan Matos and Brian Baker.
Evidently, gestating during the pandemic has served them well, and DANA pull all sorts of dexterous moves here. On “R U Dead?,” they transition out of a wobbling theremin freakout into a swaying surf guitar line so seamlessly, it’ll render you briefly breathless. They drop quick hardcore breakdowns into the wonky no wave march of “Midnight Fiend,” and raise an earworm paranoid groove on “One Weird Trick.” And on the deliriously good “Mayfly,” perhaps the album’s finest moment, the band un-spool a gorgeous golem of post-punk, krautrock, and spacey noise that will stay with you for weeks.
Adding to its airtight musical chops and firm grasp of aesthetics is how Clean Living came to be. DIY from top to bottom, DANA produced and released the LP completely on their own, book and conduct their own tours, and have turned the band into a self-sustained organism.
Post-modern, avant-garde, Barthelme-esque, Dadaist, and a dozen other overstated words can be used here; DANA is all of this and more. What’s more important is how gleeful and resolute they sound, how the album projects as a labour of love, how simply great it is. With Clean Living, DANA may well have made the best art punk record of the year.