Daan

DAAN (born Daan Stuyven, Belgium 1969) is an atypical self-made musical & visual artist with a love for cult pop-music with a rock attitude. In a tradition of writers as Serge Gainsbourg, Peter Gabriel, Beck, Sparks or even Robert Palmer he combines all genres, from electronic dance to country or indie lofi rock. But he’s a songwriter in the first place, with a passion for twisted metaphoric lyrics, packaging his expression with pop-art like simplistic titles as “Icon”, “Victory”, “Exes”, “Housewife”, “Friend”. Sounds like Bach after a heavy night out and only a cheap little synth to tell the story. Even if Daan started out as a New Beat backing vocalist in the eighties, he sees no problems into combing this with his love for Randy Newman or George Brassens’ cynical romanticism. He first had significant indie success, late 90’s, with his band Dead Man Ray, formed with ex dEUS guitar player Rudy Trouvé, touring Europe with their filmic krautrock sound. But his solo career really took of in 2002, with his first hit “Swedish Designer Drugs”, followed by a string of award winning golden records, appreciated by a bizarrely mixed audience. Besides his many studio albums and intense live appearances, he also writes soundtracks for films.