Ondrej Holy, known as dné, quit making music in 2013. He felt like all of his ideas had become trite and boring, his audial vision had deteriorated, and he began to despise the process. At the same time, he began to suffer serious health problems (he has a rare type of muscular dystrophy), and fulfilling his yearn to create became impossible and exhaustive. So, he jacked it in.
Then, one day during his mini-retirement, he tried changing his perspective. Instead of constantly battling against his limitations, he decided to enforce some limitations of his own on his art. He tried making music using only a piano, with just a human clap for percussion. Slowly, all those other textures of his work naturally found their way back in, as he reintroduced vocals, guitar, strings, sampling techniques and organic beats.
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Five years later, he had an album, packed with delicate orchestrations, inspired by painfully modern themes of loneliness, superficial connections, and the increasing elusiveness of true romance and relationships. In essence, he’s created a collection of songs that soothe the constant noise, anxiety and unstoppable speed of life in the internet age, and if you’re into Nils Frahm or even Nicolas Jaar’s quieter moments, then you’re gonna like this a lot.
Today, we’re premiering the track “Meeting Points at 2AM” (out on Majestic Casual). So put your phone on airplane mode and listen below.