Dool: Liquid Music
DOOL have just returned with their sublime new album The Shape Of Fluidity and it sees the Dutch dark rockers reaching soaring new heights with their music, all the while tackling issues of change with their lyrics, and both are done in the most beautiful and life affirming way. We caught up with DOOL vocalist Raven van Dorst to talk about The Shape Of Fluidity and the how the album came together.
We start things off with Raven telling us about the album and declaring that The Shape Of Fluidity is all about identity and how that affects us all, with deeply personal lyrics from Raven that so many can convey with. “It doesn’t just tell my story. It’s also a broader theme. Identity is a global theme, and identity in this world, which is changing so rapidly at the moment.”
Raven continued in telling us about the personal nature of the songs but also the fact that what the band are talking about is universal. “There’s so many issues that we are putting on a looking glass now as humanity, and it does a lot to a person to be confronted with that all all the time, so it’s not just about my identity, but identity in general. My story is a big part of that, and I think, ever since the last album, I’ve been making huge steps in coming to peace with my own nature.”
Raven carried on by describing the creation of The Shape Of Fluidity and how it was ultimately a cathartic experience. “I wrote the last album, Summerland, myself, and then COVID hit, and we couldn’t tour with it, and it fell apart. I got in a creative depression, because I don’t write to release an album, I write to go on tour, I’m a live musician, I want to be on a stage and I think the rest of the band feels this too, We are a live band and I didn’t really see the need to write anything. Then our guitarists Nick and Omar, after I didn’t touch my guitar for a year and a half, they said, ‘do you want to start working on something again?’. I only realised later when I was singing in the studio, what I’ve been writing about, it became kind of a catharsis, then it became quite powerful, but also quite intense.”
Raven then expanded on working with a notes producer on the album and how it went working with them. “Magnus Líndberg, the producer and drummer for CULT OF LUNA. He made us sound so immense and bombastic. We’ve never sounded before on the album. We always hear from people that we sound so much bigger live than on CD, but he managed to capture that grandness of the DOOL sounds on this album.”
The Shape Of Fluidity also marks the recording debut of new drummer Vincent Kreyder and Raven enthused about his abilities. “He brings so much creativity with him. He’s like a creative cannon, and he has so many different styles, he has his jazzy interpretation sometimes and he can do whatever. He fits right in and he brings us to a whole different level, so we’re really glad to have him.”
Raven went on to explain just how the album has been received so far and the positive reaction it has so far. “Overwhelming. People from so many corners of the world and so many different levels of society are writing very heartfelt messages. I think people can relate to the global theme, trying to stay close to yourself in a world that is changing so rapidly and so aggressively at the moment.”
Talk then turned to live shows and DOOL played The Shape Of Fluidity in full at Roadburn Festival and Raven couldn’t have been happier with how the show turned out. “It was amazing! Roadburn for us, it’s kind of like home. We have a long history with the festival, not as a band only, but as individuals as well, Everyone has performed at Roadburn several times.”
Raven then told us of playing the album in full and what challenges they faced in doing so. “We didn’t write that record to be played live in that order, so there’s a lot of tuning and a lot of different guitar swaps, and a lot of different intros. We had to make it work, and we worked really hard on that. That was the biggest challenge actually, to get the production to keep it flowing but it worked out really great. We had a very nice light show!”
Raven also enthused about taking the songs from The Shape Of Fluidity to the stage when DOOL tour from now on. “I think we’re mainly gonna play new songs because we like them so much, when we record an album, I’m always my biggest critic, and I don’t want to hear it for a while because I can hear so many things that could have been better, but now ever since we came out of the studio, I’ve been listening to this album. I’m such a fucking fan of my own band at the moment. It’s so good.”
Those touring plans will include a trip to the UK and we finish things off with Raven telling us excitedly about coming back here to play with an appearance at Damnation Festival already confirmed. “We haven’t been to the UK much so we’re really looking forward to coming back. There will be a couple more shows added to add to that to that month around Manchester too. We’ve heard a lot of good stories about Damnation so we’re looking forward to it.”
The Shape Of Fluidity is out now via Prophecy Productions.
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