With already a couple of IDIOTEQ features in the books, we’re super pleased to bring back one of our favorite post rock infused genre blender DÛRGA, hailing from Valencia, Spain. The band’s latest LP “De Lira Ire” was released 2 years ago and it masmerized thousands of listeners with many unexpected shades of light and dark, of melody and explosivenes, embracing its own newfound maturity. Today, the band unveils first details of their upcoming third opus that should put them into the discussions of this generation’s best experimental / post metal European artists. We have teamed up with the band Wombat Booking to recall DÛRGA’s profile and share their thoughts on new music, COVID-19, their local music scene, and give us some good records recommendations to digest before they enchant us with their new album in a couple of months from now.
For fans of Russian Circles, Caspian, Toundra, Viva Belgrado, If These Trees Could Talk, post hardcore / post rock amalgams, and out-of-the-box post-metal.
Dûrga is a young post-rock power-trio from the city of Valencia, Spain. The band members are Santi, Carlos and David, three friends that in January 2016 started to play together with one only object: make the music they love. Their creations translate the listener in different landscapes thanks to their atmospheric passages with quiet and melodic rhythms: natural spaces that burst sharply with their defensive instinct, unrestrained anger, distortion and fast patterns.
“We play something usually labeled as post-rock although our music, as almost every music, does not understand labels. We mix atmospheric passages, melodic and/or heavy riffs, energy, rage, punk… Call it post-everything.” – they elaborate. “In these 4 years as a band, we feel we have evolved in many levels. So many shows, rehearsal hours, lots of effort… and it pays off. We feel more mature as a band and the way we do things has changed, like organizing tours more carefully (bye bye to these 12-hour drives between gigs) and how we work on the rehearsal room (making better use of the time).”
“Before starting with this project, we all played in other bands. Santi played in a punk rock band and also has a folk solo project. Carlos played in a few crust, punk and power violence bands and David was in a blues-rock combo and in a cover band (yes, we all have a past). So you can see our sound is a strange yet enriching combo. Right now we still continue exploring new paths and styles, like Santi learning to create beats and Carlos starting his small, different artists.”
If you come across Dûrga you will find a tense calm: a pleasant journey through beautiful landscapes, but always with that inquietude of the one feeling the storm approaching.
“The new album (our 3rd one) will be a step forward regarding production. We will record it with Santi Garcia at Ultramarins Costa Brava, the man behind some of the best albums in our country in our opinion. Guys like Toundra and Viva Belgrado have recorded with him. We’re very happy to have the chance to live this experience.
𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠, 𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 (“𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑎𝑛𝑐̧𝑎”) 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑖𝑡.
The second (“De Lira Ire”, 2018) dealt about mental health issues and the stigmatization of people that suffer them by society. This new album will speak about the time and the modern, its capitalist concept, and how it affects our daily lives and relationships with others.”
Missing live shows
“In August, we will start the recording of the album (re-scheduled due to the pandemic). Being realists and realizing how is the situation right now, seems that we will start to present it live next year. We would like to tour around Spain and Europe, but we will start thinking about that in a few months when the situation settles a bit. After several months without live shows, we cannot wait to hit the stage again!”
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COVID-19 pandemic
“The pandemic got us all by surprise. We thought that was something happening in China and that will never affect to us. Suddenly we were all locked at home, canceling gigs and plans. Regarding Dûrga, we had to cancel a small run of three shows in May and what is worst, the recording session of the album in April. We had arranged that date one year earlier, and rescheduling everything again was a big headache. At the end, I think we all realized that there is not much we can do but wait, so we try to stay positive and to be patient.
There are other bands that were about to start their tours and had to cancel them like our friends from Syberia. After making lots of T-shirts and merch for their European run, it is a huge setback have to say goodbye to the tour, so if you can go help them via their Bandcamp!”
Valencia / Spanish music scene
“There is a rich DIY scene here in Spain and around Valencia, but right now, like almost everything, is on standby.
There are a few proposals from friends trying to create content to keep the scene alive, like the guys from Carcosa Records, from Valencia. They are running interviews to bands and to scene-related people to show how bands and people that organize DIY shows work. Our friends from Underground Revolution from Castello are broadcasting acoustic sessions from DIY bands, and helping them in theses days without concerts. And on a country level, our friend Fer and Jorge from Svdestada have started their project DIYtopia: an online podcast and website with interviews, album reviews, radio programs, releases… the most complete and brave proposal I’ve seen in a while. Thank you very much guys!”
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𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠.
“One of the bands we have been listening a lot are our pals from Laid, also from Valencia. The released their first EP ¨Plastic Nostalgic” late 2019, and we cannot love it more! Great emo 90’s you cannot stop listen.
Other releases that we liked a lot (besides big names as Envy, Caspian or Viva Belgrado) are the last works from the Spanish bands Trees Will Tell, Hyedra, KLS (DIY super warriors!) and Gyoza.
On an international plane, we fell in love with the “Reel” EP from Slow Crush. They are great friends creating dreamy shoegaze and using the biggest pedalboards ever, go try them! [GO HERE to see their IDIOTEQ feature]
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑦.
“We like to change the songs from time to time and to listen to them while we drive on the van. This way we can catch up with what we are all listening at that moment. There is metal, punk, folk, trap, hip-hop, electronic… We told you, we’re very eclectic ;)”
“Best wishes for everybody; try to stay positive and to be creative. It might be the time to start playing that instrument, to start your own post-black metal solo project or to learn how to bake bread. Try to support people struggling because of the pandemic, inside and outside the music world. We hope to see you in 2021!”
