In a tradition of writers as Serge Gainsbourg, Peter Gabriel, Beck, Sparks or even Robert Palmer he combines all genres, from electronic dance to country or indie lofi rock. But he’s a songwriter in the first place, with a passion for twisted metaphoric lyrics, packaging his expression with pop-art like simplistic titles as “Icon”, “Victory”, “Exes”, “Housewife”, “Friend”. Sounds like Bach after a heavy night out and only a cheap little synth to tell the story. Even if Daan started out as a New Beat backing vocalist in the eighties, he sees no problems into combing this with his love for Randy Newman or George Brassens’ cynical romanticism. He first had significant indie success, late 90’s, with his band Dead Man Ray, formed with ex dEUS guitar player Rudy Trouvé, touring Europe with their filmic krautrock sound. But his solo career really took of in 2002, with his first hit “Swedish Designer Drugs”, followed by a string of award winning golden records, appreciated by a bizarrely mixed audience. Besides his many studio albums and intense live appearances, he also writes soundtracks for films, or acts himself like in the 2020 Hungarian film “Eden”. From his early years as a celebrated graphic designer he keeps on designing his album covers and directing his own videos. In 2026, he comes back but his album 'Ink'. The album is a 12 song tribute to the wonderful music of the Ink Spots, this 4-member vocal band pioneered with a new but very typical sound, combining pop, jazz, rap, blues in the mid-1930’s ‘till mid 1940’s. This new album is a collaboration between jazz cats Fré Madou on upright bass, Bruno De Groote on guitars. Daan sings & plays rhythm guitar. For Daan this is a horizon-widening experiment into a totally different genre, and also a vocal challenge, as the lyrics, almost a century old, describe the despair, longing, loneliness, frustration and adoration for an impossible love, mixed with irony, poetry & guts. The album’s inside a(i)rtwork dystopically illustrates how a man in love tries to escape from the great depression through pure romanticism.