AWKWARD i

AWKWARD i is the more song-oriented pseudonym of composer and musician Djurre de Haan. The debut I Really Should Whisper sounds like a layered DIY record with a strong indie folk feel, long before that term would be massively abused (hello Mumford!) . The influences from his time in the Alamo Race Track band are also clearly audible here.

On later albums, Djurre alternates a fuller band sound with sonorous pop arrangements and playful sound experiments. Somewhere in the universe between self-mockery, absurdity and melancholy, he manages to plant his flag. Something that does not escape Arjan Lubach, who gives the song A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky a status as a pop hit with his remix-for-the-whole-family.
In the Michiel ten Horn-directed video for Happiest Man (At Your Funeral), Djurre is decapitated by an armored Henry van Loon. AWKWARD i is at its best when it lives up to its name.