Herman Dune

Herman Dune is the project of Franco-Swedish musician David Ivar, founded in the late 1990s. Born and raised in Paris, he forged his musical identity at a time when performing English-language folk on French stages was marginal. Inspired by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt, he developed a deeply personal style that sits between spare folk, melancholy country and poetic indie-folk. A prolific songwriter, composer and performer, David Ivar established himself as a singular figure on the independent scene, able to blend tenderness and irony in luminous, sincere songs. Since 2015 he has lived in San Pedro, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles and cradle of California punk, where he lives with his wife and collaborator Mayon and their three black cats. Settled in his bungalow, he founded the label Santa Cruz Records, through which he continues a prolific and free-ranging output, recording notably Sweet Thursday, Santa Cruz Gold, Notes From Vinegar Hill and the trilogy The Portable Herman Dune Vol. 1–3, which encapsulate his love of simplicity and authenticity in songwriting. A multifaceted artist, Herman Dune also composes for film, scoring Mariage à Mendoza and Pétaouchnock by Édouard Deluc. Across fifteen albums he has built a warm, introspective and timeless universe where folk becomes a universal language, between nostalgia, humour and humanity.