SIREN – Gauntlet

Siren is the new recording project from Darshan Jesrani (Metro Area, Startree) and Dennis Kane (Disques Sinthomme, Ghost Town). Siren began recording in earnest during the winter of 2013, but has beginnings which date farther back, to their mutual residencies at NYC’s storied night-spot APT, and to the parties they produced together in APT’s wake. Events with names like Camille 3000, Adult Section and Strobe Lodge were lovingly presented, with bold, romantic graphics and a strong, specific statement that refinement and transgression can, and should always hang together.

A Canal Street Loft, A Bushwick printing factory, a former ballroom dance studio in Chinatown, an old theater, an idyllic poolside on Long Island, a burlesque parlor – all locations which have played host to Jesrani & Kane’s unique way of playing music for party people. Their melodic and broad-minded style has earned them a following as they continue to push the limits and range of what makes a night of mixed music dynamic, fluid, and ultimately transformative.

Over the course of so many conversations about songs played and examinations of what each was working on, a studio dialogue developed naturally, and led to regular sessions. A battery of songs were sketched, the name Siren selected, and a new chapter begun. Their easy bond of playing records together has extended into a studio practice that seems ready to yield a significant body of work.

Siren’s first offering, “Gauntlet”, is a moody, rich maelstrom of a song which embraces everything from heavy disco, to West African guitar, to soundtrack and theme music, to Adrian Belew. It features the guitar and bass work of Mark Dann (Left Field), percussion by Sal Principato (Liquid Liquid), vocals by Daniel Chavis (Apollo Heights, The Veldt) and spoken parts by legendary barman and griot Vito Palmore to guide the way. A swirling, joyful, mesmerizing romp of a remix by the esteemed Ray Mang fills out the flip.

Though Siren will be undoubtedly be positioned in the market of electronic dance music, the range and scope of this project will challenge many of the easy and well-worn solutions that seem to be suffocating the genres. The same intensity and attention to detail that has been their trademark as DJs resonates through Siren’s output as they push boundaries by their very nature.