Dana Gavanski

1. I Talk To The Wind
2. At Last I Am Free
3. Never Too Far
4. Jano Mome
5. The kiss

As a follow up to Dana's debut album 'Yesterday Is Gone' she has released a covers EP titled 'Wind Songs', Dana Gavanski complements her debut album 'Yesterday is Gone' from her temporary new home in London – using enforced isolation to make the best of unfortunate circumstances and find comfort in the familiar strangers of her musical heroes. The Wind Songs EP comes bundled with 'Yesterday is Gone' in a deluxe

Dana utilized solitude to form deeper connections with the artists who inspire her. With her Travis picking technique she has recorded her unique renditions of songs like a time capsule of her journey so far; from teenage years in Vancouver to kitchen table talk with her mother and grandma “Baka” about love, life, sex, art, relationships, and psychology, and selling her records for a move to Montreal:

Dana's notes on each cover track. 

I Talk To The Wind by King Crimson
One of the first records I ever bought in my late teens was King Crimson's album 'In The Court of the Crimson King', a prog-rock masterpiece. It was the first time I heard this song and was a super important record for me. It also has this amazing raging mad album cover depicting the Schizoid Man… I eventually sold my small collection of albums before leaving for Montreal and kind of forgot about King Crimson for some time. I only got back into them early last year… Ian McDonald’s beautiful flute solos throughout the song, the mellow vocals and symphonic arrangements all come together to make it a really cool moody tune. Another version of the song I love, maybe even a bit more, is by Giles, Giles, and Fripp featuring Judy Dyble’s vocals.

At Last, I Am Free by Chic
I only discovered this brilliant song within the last year. Written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and originally sung by Chic, Robert Wyatt does a superb cover of it that just blows my mind, with his bizarre but amazing vocals and arrangement: that soft and gentle mellotron flute that pushes the song along coupled with his shrill wizardly voice. The way he makes the covers he’s done his own has been a big inspiration on making this EP. He does a super beautiful rendition of Te Recuerdo Amanda by Victor Jara that is equally as bizarre, and a totally different world from the original. 

Jano Mome 
This is an old Macedonian folk song that I learned while spending a few months in Belgrade, Serbia a few years ago while taking folk singing lessons from Bojana Nikolic. It was one of the first traditional folk songs of the Balkans that I learned. I'm very drawn to all kinds of folk songs and the ways in which they are sung, often influenced by the particular vocal tradition of the region… Jano Mome is a traditional love song, where the singer of the song is urging his love, Jana, not to sing so beautifully, as the wind will carry her voice over the mountains and disturb the shepherd as he herds his sheep and life as they know it, but to come back home where he waits to kiss her for 3 days and 3 nights.

The Kiss by Judee Sill
I believe, The Kiss by Judee Sill, is probably the most beautiful and perfect song out there, aside from her other song, The Donor, which is on the same album and another masterpiece. It’s everything: the vocals, her inflections, the arrangements, and the words mixed with the little I know about her tragic life story. I have such reverence for her. The kiss is a delicate love song of huge proportions. It was really difficult for us to work on this song and make it our own at first. Her influence is so major and her voice so unique. We had to chuck out our first take, and start from scratch and I think the result is quite different from the original… 

Never Too Far - Tim Hardin 
Tim Hardin is known as a songwriter’s songwriter. So many people have covered his songs and I came to him through these covers, my favourite being Something on Your Mind, covered by Karen Dalton. His songs are tragic but down to earth, simple yet visionary. This song is from his brilliant Tim Hardin 1 album that features some of his best songs. This one stood out to me though, in its cheeky, upbeat and simple arrangement. 

 

Liner Notes

Produced by Dana Gavanski, James Howard, and Capitol K 
Recorded at Total Refreshment Centre Studio 
Mixed by Capital K
Mastered by Heather Kirby
Photography by Jack Tennant
I Talk To The Wind written by Ian McDonald & Peter Sinfield.

I Talk To The Wind - original by King Crimson
At Last I Am Free - original written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and originally sung by Chic
Never Too Far - original by Tim Hardin 
Jano Mome - Jano Mome is a traditional love song sung in Serbian 
The Kiss - original by Judee Sill