Daphni : Butterfly
Daphni (real name: Dan Snaith) knows what’s up. To understand the Canadian producer’s thoughtful philosophy of dance music, check out the way he praises this German nightclub: “Around the time I was finishing up [Butterfly] I played a long set in a club called Open Ground in Wuppertal, Germany. It’s kind of, in one sense, the platonic ideal of the kind of club I’d want to play in. Every single decision has been taken, at great expense, with the aim of making the perfect sounding medium sized club room. But on top of it being the perfect acoustic environment it also is run by an amazing collection of people.”
Open Ground does sound amazing, weak pun intended. Snaith’s artistic philosophy is clearly in sync with the venue’s commitment to auditory quality and community ethos, something that other corners of the multi-billion dollar nightlife industry could learn a thing or two from. His new album Butterfly (his fourth under the Daphni name) is a similarly audiophilic delight. These 16 tracks are crafted with immaculate precision and tangible human warmth; all meticulous textures, unexpected instrumentation and relentless high-energy. It’s also a house album and, unlike a lot of Western dance music in the 2020s (which lacks the distinct scenes and constant emergence of new sounds of yesteryear, but that’s a discussion for another day), Butterfly broadly stays within the loose parameters of the house genre, prioritizing color and flair over post-genre eclecticism.
To clarify, there are one or two interlude-style tracks, such as “Miles Smiles” and “Invention,” which recalls the psych vibes of Snaith’s other projects like Caribou. However, the vast majority of tracks here go straight for the dancefloor jugular. Some are straight-up hard, like “Talk To Me,” which is all about dark bass wobbles and nasty hi-hats. “Shifty” is similarly punishing; a pulsating monster of a track that begs to be heard at the loudest, most cavernous warehouse rave. If there’s an issue with the album, it’s that it doesn’t really feel like an album. There’s a dozen 12-inch bangers here, fleshed out by a handful of very-different shorter breaks in the momentum, that (with the exception of the transcendent closer “Eleven”) don’t really possess any internal logic or rhythm.
This might be an unfair way to judge these meticulously-composed, ultra-energetic (a couple of more midtempo floor-fillers wouldn’t have gone amiss) tracks. However, it results in a full-length that’s a touch hard to understand or get a handle on. Given that Snaith is such an intelligent, detailed composer, it’s a surprise that Butterfly feels as disorganised as it does. There’s fun to be had here, but as an album, it’s pretty scattershot.
Label: Jiaolong
Year: 2026
Similar Albums:
