* En anglais uniquement
With bands such as
Cajun Dance Party and
Yuck, solo projects such as
Hebronix and
Oupa, and numerous collaborations, singer/songwriter
Daniel Blumberg established himself as an adventurous talent in the English indie scene of the 2000s and 2010s. First known as part of the energetic indie pop group
Cajun Dance Party during the second half of the 2000s, he founded
Yuck, a much moodier alternative rock group, in 2009, which he led until 2013. During the decade, he released more experimental music under several additional projects, including
Oupa,
Hebronix, and GUO. His debut release under his own name, a bleak, dissonant full-length titled
Minus, appeared in 2018. That album's tone carried over into his spare, experimental score to the somber frontier drama
The World to Come (2020).
Blumberg's career began in 2006 with the London indie pop outfit
Cajun Dance Party, which formed while
Blumberg was still in his teens. After the release of the band's 2008 album The Colourful Life, he and bandmate
Max Bloom left
Cajun Dance Party and formed the '90s indie rock-influenced act
Yuck in 2009. The band issued its self-titled debut in February 2011. A few months later,
Blumberg released
Forget, a collection of piano ballads that introduced his solo project
Oupa.
Early in 2013,
Blumberg left
Yuck to focus on his own music. He started another solo project,
Hebronix, whose eclectic debut album
Unreal arrived in July 2013 and featured production by Neil Hagerty of
Royal Trux and
the Howling Hex. The pair then collaborated as Heb-Hex and released a split single that November, and
Blumberg also performed as a member of
the Howling Hex. Amidst all this activity,
Blumberg found a home base for his experiments at London's Cafe Oto, performing and recording with the collective's musicians on written and improvised material. During this time, he also studied traditional drawing at the Royal Drawing School and worked with saxophonist
Seymour Wright as GUO, releasing a pair of improvised recordings in 2017.
Blumberg also worked on solo material with Cafe Oto musicians who included violinist
Billy Steiger and double bassist
Tom Wheatley. They, along with
Dirty Three drummer
Jim White, backed
Blumberg on
Minus, his first music released under his own name. Capturing his anguish over the end of a long-term relationship as well as his battle with mental illness, the album arrived in May 2018 via Mute Records.
Later in the year, the label issued
Liv, a previously unreleased
Hebronix album recorded in 2014 which featured
Steiger and
Wheatley, as well as synth playing by Kohhei Matsuda. Originally issued in a limited edition at the end of 2018,
Liv was given a full release in March 2019.
On&On, a nine-track song cycle recorded by the core group of musicians featured on
Minus, as well as vocalist Elvin Brandhi, appeared in 2020. That year also saw the film festival premiere of
The World to Come, featuring
Blumberg's sober instrumental score. The soundtrack release followed on Mute in 2021. ~ Heather Phares & Paul Simpson