BEST NEW INDIE: DYAN - LOOKING FOR KNIVES

6 minutes and 13 seconds is a long time to maintain someone's attention span in this fast-paced world, but trust me when I say that you'll want to stop and consume every moment of DYAN's breakthrough single, “Looking For Knives.”

It's been years since I can remember hearing electronic pop this affecting. Slow-burning and exquisitely crafted, this is music that has no need to rush. Built around tremulous synthesizers and the siren vocal calls of lead singer Alexis Marsh, over which a guitar echoes in the distance, “Looking For Knives” is a melancholy-steeped lamentation that gradually edges towards to its cathartic and perhaps unexpected saxophone solo climax.

“I wanted out of a relationship with a good man. And there was no explaining why. It was the opposite of what I expected from myself, breaking a promise so easily,” says Marsh – who forms part of DYAN with Sam Jones and Daniel Dorff Jr – of the story behind “Looking For Knives.” “And it all felt very dark – anger, impatience, but sorrow above all. So we went after a sound to reflect that – keeping the arrangement clear up until the saxophone solo sort of explodes to finish the song.”

“Explodes” indeed. On that note, take 6 minutes and 13 seconds out of your day to listen to “Looking For Knives” below, and if you have even more time to spare, check out DYAN's debut album Looking For Knives, which is available now.

DYAN - LOOKING FOR KNIVES

About Jess Grant

When Jess Grant isn't writing on music, she can be found playing it – on her guitar, on her ukulele, and on her recently acquired mandolin. Playing it hideously, she ought to add. Jess also studies. She studies the English language, to be precise. Jess is currently on her way to a degree in the subject, and enjoys starting and never finishing novels, screenplays, and poetry in her spare time. She also likes dogs. Lots of dogs.