The Dublin trio have great taste in tunes
Have you heard of DIVAN? They make complex harmonic indie-folk, and we think they’re great. This is their new single, Shards:
They’re not bad at all, are they
If there’s one thing we know, it’s that great bands usually have pretty great taste in music. That’s why we asked Jamie from the band to put together a playlist of a few of his favourite tunes, exclusively for you lovely people. Here’s Jamie telling you a bit about his choices:
The Shins – New Slang
‘Absolutely love this song to bits. The whole thing just floats and ebbs beautifully, with a melody that just carries me away to a special place every time I hear it.
Death Cab For Cutie – Company Calls
‘I owe a lot of my lyrical themes to Benjamin Gibbard. This song’s energy constantly sets a benchmark for my songwriting.
Sufjan Stevens – Fourth of July
‘It’s hard to pick one song from his repertoire – he’s my favourite songwriter out there today. This song is the best song I’ve ever seen live; it absolutely blew my mind. The live version is vastly different than the recorded one and culminates with a huge wall of sound and the entire band screaming the end line ‘we’re all gonna die’. It’s immense.
Elliott Smith – Everything Means Nothing To Me
‘Songwriting perfection. I wish I could achieve in my career a tenth of what he does in the opening 20 seconds of this song.
Grizzly Bear – Knife
‘What I love about this song is how it’s so vastly complex, yet starts with two simple bar chords. I think that’s a formula we’ve tried to utilise in our songs.
Menomena – Wet And Rusting
‘This is the song that made me fall in love with Menomena, and to get to work with Brent on our album was such an privilege.It’s so inventive, dramatic and full of confidence, yet there’s a fragility in his vocals that offsets it all perfectly.
Paul Simon – Quiet
‘An odd selection, maybe! But It’s the first song I can remember making me cry. I was on a bus heading to record an EP with my old band and this song just hit me hard. I’d never heard a musician talk about the negative aspects of what ambition can do to you and others around you and it’s a perspective I revisit every day.
Radiohead – How to Disappear Completely
‘A friend of mine gifted me Kid A on vinyl a few days back and it really reminded me how much I love this song.The emotion it conveys is incredible and always leaves me feeling some kind of incomprehensible emotion after listening to it.
Villagers – The Meaning of The Ritual
‘I’d put this song up there with my Elliott Smith selection in terms of solo songwriting ability. The chord changes and lyrics are so stunning, it proves that there really is beauty in despair. Also, though I am not very nationalistic, I am extremely proud that he is Irish.
The Antlers – Kettering
‘This song broke my heart when I heard it first. I love how it deals with the darker side of death and grieving. Coming close to one in my family at the time this record was released will forever make a place for this song in my top 10.
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Check out Jamie from DIVAN’s full playlist: