Daan

Daan (Stuyven) is a Belgian artist who has already been active in the music business for about 20 years. He was first known for his work with alternative/experimental rock band Dead Man Ray. His first two solo albums were made while still playing with Dead Man Ray. His first solo album called Profools was released in 1999, still showing a lot of influence from his work with Dead Man Ray but sounding less experimental. The second album (Bridge Burner, 2002) was an almost purely electronic album, showing a lot of influences of disco, new wave and a bit of kitsch. It could be considered his breakthrough album as it was responsable for spawning his first great hit: Swedish Designer Drugs. Victory, his third and most succesful album to date, found a balance between electronics, kitsch and pop. The best known songs from that album are Housewife (his greatest hit), Victory and Addicted. The release of his fourth album The Player (2006) saw Daan using more kitsch and symphonical sounds in his songs and experimenting with the use of different languages in his songs (English, French and German) while largely sticking with his electro-pop sound he was known for by then. His latest album, Manhay (named after a village in the Ardennes), can be seen as a return to his more serious side. It contains no beats or electronics and consists largely of pop/rock songs. It was released in 2009. Apart from his studio albums and his work with Dead Man Ray, he already made a lot of soundtracks. Mostly for Belgian independent films (examples are: Suspect, Verboden Te Zuchten, Un honnête commerçant...). He also provides guest vocals for other artists, and ocasionally produces for other artists. Next to making music, he used to make artwork for different events/albums/... However he has stopped doing this and only creates artwork for his own albums.