awkward i is the musical umbrella of Djurre de Haan. De Haan grew up in the northern parts of Holland. In the city of Groningen De Haan recorded his music in his bathroom, and other damp small spaces, for some five or six years. When the confines of the bathroom proved to be too small, he used an empty garage instead. ...show more

awkward i is the musical umbrella of Djurre de Haan. De Haan grew up in the northern parts of Holland. In the city of Groningen De Haan recorded his music in his bathroom, and other damp small spaces, for some five or six years. When the confines of the bathroom proved to be too small, he used an empty garage instead.

The natural reverb that sugarcoated this environment made De Haan want to start experimenting with the landscape for his music. Like the bathroom, Groningen, although a vibrant and energetic college town, gradually felt more like a forest robbed of all its secrets. De Haan tried to escape the obstructing familiarity by moving first to rural Pennsylvania, and next to similar surroundings in Michigan. Ironically, he ended up, again, in Holland, Michigan.

The years in the US proved to be very determining, seeing that they gave De Haan an opportunity to explore the English language thoroughly. De Haan had always been looking for stories in history and in whatever types of texts he could find, studying literature, wherever he was. Looking back on it now, De Haan realizes that this was "always with the intention of recycling things into my music, not my degree." Again like bathrooms and cities without secrets, De Haan decided that studying language and literature at university was just a tool on the road to somewhere else, not some final destination. He moved to Amsterdam and started looking for, and finding, all sorts of musicians. ...show less