EX VOTO
Release Date: November 1, 2019
Label: Triple Eye Industries
Pre-order via Bandcamp: https://djunah.bandcamp.com/album/ex-voto
TRACKLIST
1. Animal Kingdom
2. Yarn
3. Laud
4. Nurse and Nun
5. July’s People
6. Cradle
7. Bless Your Money
8. Brother
9. Built
10. Hand Videos
11. Kiddo
12. Mirrors for Narcissists
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BIO
The list of artists who can play two instruments at once is short, but Djunah’s Donna Diane is on it. Known for her raw, aggressive performance style, the former Beat Drun Juel frontwoman pulls triple duty in noise-rock power duo Djunah (JUNE-uh), simultaneously playing guitar, singing, and pulverizing on a massive-sounding Moog bass organ with her feet. She’s joined by drummer Nick Smalkowski, a veteran heavy hitter from Midwest acts like Arctic Sleep and Fake Limbs. The Chicago duo’s debut album, Ex Voto, was recorded in March 2019 by Kurt Ballou at God City Studio.
Ex Voto is a full-force barrage of emotional expressions of deep pain, intense sexuality, and personal and political power. Diane’s voice frequently shifts from throat-wrenched whispers to explosive ranting, the melodic line often warping under the weight of her words. On “Animal Kingdom,” a nod to the 1932 film of the same name, she channels Myrna Loy’s performance as a man-eating socialite into guttural screaming: “Eat out my hand. Rise at my command. She can’t hunt you like I do.”
Many of Diane’s lyrics entwine the personal and political, often weaving together topics of sexuality, gender roles, and political crisis. “Built,” seemingly a paean to a well-endowed man, ultimately reveals itself as an execration of border wall zealotry. In “Mirrors for Narcissists,” the central question (“When do you destroy the government?”) refers as much to dismantling a personal ethos of compliance as to demolishing the state itself.
Odd timings abound on Ex Voto, often molded around Diane’s terse wordplay. In “Nurse and Nun,” the throbbing pop opening rubs up against the song’s erratic time signature, eventually collapsing into a soaring climax and hair-raising vocal rant. Straight-up rippers like “Yarn” dip into quiet moments on “Kiddo” and “Cradle.” The latter, a morbid 45-second nursery rhyme, could be Brainiac’s Tim Taylor reading an Emily Dickinson meditation on death.
By design, the duo says, everything they do in their live show is live—no loops, no samples, no backing tracks. Their goal is simple but lofty: execute a full trio sound in time with just eight limbs. This makes the band as much about their passion for their gear as about their colossal sound. Both are self-described gear worshippers. Smalkowski is a drum maker who handmade the stave kit he uses. Diane assembled her bass organ from a Moog bass synth, MIDI organ pedals, and an effects board with a custom switcher that allows her to toggle separate bass and guitar effects simultaneously.
“It’s a really insane challenge—being tethered to one spot on the bass organ but still bringing the same energy and intensity on guitar and in my voice,” Diane says. “I’m stunned at how much technique I’ve developed in the past year.” She laughs, “I’m even learning to jump and land on the right note.”
Live, Diane’s performance is electrifying. Perched on her left leg throughout a 30-minute set, she parses hundreds of button and key strokes with her right foot, all while sustaining her powerful guitar work and terrifying howl. The task is daunting: her guitar and bass lines rarely move in parallel and the odd timings only complicate matters. But it’s worth it, she says. “I want to give people something they haven’t seen before,” Diane says. “We definitely don’t play it safe. But I’d rather hit a wrong note than be fucking boring.”
The album’s artwork is an homage to the ex voto style of painting, a Catholic folk tradition often depicting suffering and miraculous recovery. Specifically, it references two famous works in the ex voto tradition: Philippe de Champaigne’s Ex-Voto de 1662 and Frida Kahlo’s Henry Ford Hospital. The artwork, shot by Dave Rentauskas, depicts Diane, clothed in a nun habit that she made herself, playing dual roles of sufferer and saint.
“Self-healing is possible if you find the right people to guide you there,” Diane says. “But ultimately you have to choose it for yourself. Wounds are myths we cling to. You have to make the choice to let them go.”
PRESS QUOTES
“Noise rock duo Donna Diane and Nick Smalkowski pummel their fists into the ground on the relentless first taste of new album, Ex Voto.” – The FADER
“Ex Voto is an angular noise rock escalator run on power and beauty.” – CVLT Nation
“…gloriously ominous and throttling post-punk.” – Impose Magazine
“…searing examples of the heavier side of Chicago rock offerings, with piercing, moody guitar riffs, sludgy, doom-laden bass, and the hard-and-fast crash of cymbals.” – Chicago Tribune
“Djunah is almost a hybrid of both member’s previous groups, wedding Smalkowski’s knotty, rock-solid rhythms to Diane’s dramatic, sweeping melodies.” – Chicago Reader
MUSIC
Buy/Stream “Animal Kingdom” here: https://fanlink.to/AnimalKingdom
Buy/Stream Ex Voto: https://fanlink.to/Djunah_ExVoto
PHOTOS
