Dan Jones - Guitars/Keyboards/Beats/Production/Songwriting
Ellie Hajee - Vocals/Production/Songwriting
Influences
Arthur Russell, Talking Heads, Sugar Hill, Sonic Youth, DFA, Brian Eno, Devo, Adonis, J Dilla, Mr Fingers, Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, TomTom Club, Telex, Caberet Voltaire, Lydia Lunch, Glass Candy, Dark Energy, Yoko Ono, Scott Walker, Lou Reed, Liquid Liquid, Joy Division, Vivien Goldman, The Ronettes,Blondie, Fever Ray, Lil Louis, Kerri Chandler, Psychic TV, David Bowie, Throbbing Gristle , William Burroughs, Douglas Adams, James Frey, Henry Chalfont, Andy Warhol, David Simon, Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Hawking, The Rainforest, Mountains, Citys, Dirt Tracks, Train Tracks, The Seaside, Graffiti , Apple Computer, Grand Theft Auto and Loads and Loads and Loads of other stuff!
D’Nell are Ellie Hajee and Dan Jones, a duo that gave us 2005’s underground hit single ‘This Thing’ and their acclaimed debut album ‘1st Magic’ and are back to treat us with some hot new material.
Dan and Ellie grew up on the same street in a small town in Devon and despite their younger brothers being best friends they amazingly never actually met until they moved to London at the start of the decade.
The single ‘This Thing’, picked up by DJs Gilles Peterson, Trevor Nelson and Norman Jay, was awarded iTunes single of the week, and was all over the coffee table compilation CD market. Following this success was the release of the album ‘1st Magic’ on BBE records and a string of memorable gigs in London and New York.
After a tumultuous gap both personally and musically they decided on a change of direction for the new record. The result retains Ellie’s seductive emotive vocals, but Dan has switched off the samplers and instead picked up synthesizers, guitars and bass. The music still has the crunchy urban feel of the earlier hip hop backing tracks but now digs further into influences such as electronica, disco and art rock whilst lyrically drawing upon their experiences of life, love and the music industry.
Made Me Video
