Album Review
DIANA - Familiar Touch
4 StarsChannelling the essence of previous decades, Toronto band DIANA still have an eye for invention on their second album.
Put the needle down to spin DIANA’s long-awaited second album and you’ll instantly be met with a percussive clatter that mirrors the bombast of Depeche Mode’s ‘People Are People.’ That’s probably not too surprising, though. Lurking underneath some chillwave ambience, there was a distinctively 80s and early 90s vibe to their debut album ‘Perpetual Surrender.’ But occasionally on that record, singer Carmen Elle’s vocals were pushed incredibly far into the mix, hidden by a thick layer of mist obscuring the fact that, at heart, DIANA are a pure pop band. So when opening rattle of ‘Confession’ gives way to funk-laden guitars, classic piano power chords and swirling synths, you know they’ve focused on their best assets.
The spoken word introduction to ‘Miharu’ asks “how does a mood return?” No longer hiding behind fuzz and lo-fi production, DIANA answer that question across the course of ‘Familiar Touch,’ where they channel the essence of previous decades. Throughout, the band use a variety of vintage synth tones and guitar and basslines that even Nile Rodgers would kill for. Joseph Sabason’s euphoric bursts of R&B saxophone inject some serious groove into the likes of ‘Cry,’ while the superbly slick ‘These Words’ is like if Prince met Tears For Fears. Despite its obvious touchstones, though, ‘Familiar Touch’ never sounds like a cheesy pastiche or throwback. Instead it draws together its various influences into a tightly knit collection of modern pop. The sandy handclaps and beats on ‘Slipping Away,’ for instance,’ turn it into a contemporary dance banger. As a result, you’ll want to feel DIANA’s comfortingly familiar touch again and again.
Read More
DIANA: Midas Touch
We chat the Toronto music scene, and amping things up, with the band's Kieran Adams.
18th November 2016, 12:00am
DIANA announce ‘Familiar Touch’ album
Hear ‘Confession’ from the Toronto group’s new LP, out in November.
21st September 2016, 12:00am
Toronto’s DIANA return with ‘Slipping Away’
Slick, sax-stacked track is taken from a second album, out later this year.
25th July 2016, 12:00am
DIANA - Perpetual Surrender
2-5 Stars
In many ways 'Perpetual Surrender' is the average British weather forecast; patchy, dull and cloudy with occasional sunny spells.
16th August 2013, 10:51am
Featuring SOFT PLAY, Corinne Bailey Rae, 86TVs, English Teacher and more!