There's an ever-present longing for something new. The next song, the next story, the next quest: “If I knew where I was going I wouldn't be on board”, Djurre de Haan sings on the new AWKWARD i album Unalaska. A word that, when he happened upon it in an old travel diary, called out to him like a light in the distance. 'Unalaska, Alaska', coordinates on a yellowed page. Words that, on the one hand, refer to an improbable place on a map, but at the same time seem to contradict and confirm each other. To De Haan, it had a magnetic pull. An ambiguous enigma that beckoned to him. The start of an inward expedition, with the pace of a horse-riding protagonist.

"So I rode into town, at the speed of a horse, chewing on dead bird metaphors”, De Haan sings on the both infectious and puzzling Body As A Meadow. It could refer to the organic way in which De Haan waited for the right words and notes to come to him – although every creator will tell you that it's more a matter of actively waiting rather than passively sitting back. Inbetween the numerous commissioned compositions that De Haan arranged for film and theatre productions, the songwriter admits to always having had his eyes set on a new album, a place just outside the field of vision. “That's how all AWKWARD i albums came to life, basically”, De Haan says, “stemming from a desire for new things, for the unknown.” French director Robert Bresson once said in an interview, very resolutely: “beauty isn't beauty when it's not new”. It sounded even better in French. The words kept echoing inside of De Haan's head, like a rule of play, further fuelling his yearning for beauty and consolation.

Unalaska is the fourth AWKWARD i album, recorded in Djurre's own Impossible Junction by long- time collaborator David Corel. Whether it's the familiarity of the recording space, the company or the pleasant passing of time, on Unalaska, De Haan seems to sound like himself more than ever.

"Body as a meadow / Disappear in the trees / May have lost four seasons / But I came out walking / Completely at ease”

With the sparse arrangement of opening track Omaha, the more orchestral Coming Up Shorts and the psychedelic, chamberpop-esque Apocalypse, among others, the album contains a broad palette of musical colours, underneath which the attentive listener will discover darker undertones, like when De Haan, on Apocalypse, sings “Last chance to be a boy / Last chance to explore / Only ‘round the river bend to discover / There won’t be time to round another.”

Transience and fragility are a recurring theme throughout the record. “Singing on your way to school of the tide and the coming apocalypse”, De Haan sings, referring to his daughter who, sat in the child's seat on the back of his bicycle and without knowing the meaning, joyfully sings the words of the song-to-be. The irony of it is characterizes Unalaska, just like the rest of De Haan's small but cherished body of work. 'Somewhere in the universe between self-deprecation, absurdity and melancholy, he's been planting his flag for years', De Haan's label Excelsior Recordings aptly stated.

Through the years, De Haan made multiple, well-received albums, both under his own name and under the AWKWARD i moniker, and composed scores and soundtracks for threatre and television. He has been releasing music through Amsterdam cult label Excelsior Recordings for more than fifteen years and his characteristic compositions can be heard in Dutch productions like Aanmodderfakker, RUNDFUNK, and the Netflix Original Ares. Most recently, he composed the orchestral soundtrack for Hotel Sinestra. He also contributed to numerous musical stage productions, like Lampje and Alice In Wonderland. His work earned De Haan two nominations for a Gouden Kalf, the most prestigious award in the Dutch film industry.