Herman Düne

by Jason AnkenySwedish anti-folk band Herman Düne earned an international cult following that included the influential BBC radio personality John Peel, whose unfailing support earned the group enormous hipster cachet. Sibling singers/guitarists André and David-Ivar Herman Düne formed the group with drummer Omé. Channeling a continuum of influences spanning from Neil Young to Sonic Youth to Pavement, the trio issued a series of self-released cassettes and CD-Rs and even toured the U.S. and Europe before releasing its first "official" LP Turn Off the Light on the Prohibited label in mid-2000. That September, Peel extended an invitation to cut a BBC radio session, and was so impressed that he summoned the trio to his home for a live Christmas broadcast. Upon relocating to Paris, Herman Düne recorded 2001's They Go to the Woods for the noted Amerindie label Shrimper. Omé exited the lineup soon after, and with new drummer Neman, they resurfaced later that year with a second full-length, Switzerland Heritage. After a 2002 split release with U.S. emo outfit Cerberus Shoal, The Whys and the Hows of Herman Düne and Cerberus Shoal, the trio backed Canadian singer/songwriter Julie Doiron on a French tour. Two new LPs, the Track and Field release Mas Cambios and the Shrimper release Mash Concrete Metal Mushrooms, followed in 2003. After a series of self-released solo efforts, André and David-Ivar reconvened Herman Düne for 2005's Not on Top. Their Source Etc. label debut, Giant, hit stores a year later.