Review of Grand Salon by Dan San | Elegance and refinement

The Belgian group Dan San knows its classics and offers a timeless, elegant and melodious indie pop album.

Dan San is an independent band from Liège, Belgium, which has earned a very good reputation since its founding in 2005 around a duo of songwriters, Jérôme Magnée and Thomas Medard. But it was their second album Shelter, released seven years ago, that brought them success, lots of shows and a few million streams online.

In recent years, the six members of the group have worked a lot on other projects on their own. They came together for this very elegant Grand Salon, which draws its inspiration as much from Nick Drake as from Simon

They thus offer twelve very melodious tracks – some of them do not hide their acquaintance with the Beatles, such as Hard Days Are Gone or Dear Friends – and worked with care with director Yann Arnaud (Air, Syd Matters). There is in fact something very timeless in Grand Salon, which resists trends and allows itself to be heard… as if we had already heard it.

This is also his main flaw: nothing really sticks out and everything is in its place, because at Dan San, we know his classics — too well perhaps.

The fact remains that with its slightly evanescent and melancholic atmosphere, its poetic texts which sometimes evoke inner dramas — 1994, Father, Mother —, pretty love songs — the joyful Midnight Call —, and its refined pop (The Unknown) , Dan San offers a sophisticated and pleasant soundtrack, which can accompany us gently without making waves.