DAF's Gabi Delgado sadly passed away on the 22nd of March. Between that and the passing of Kraftwerk founder Florian Schneider 30 days later, the world lost two of its most progressive minds. Two pioneering artists, both with a revolutionary impact on music as we know it. Without them, the world, and Düsseldorf, is an emptier place.
At the time of Gabi's passing, DAF was still playing live. A few gigs were postponed recently due to the ongoing pandemic. But as it turns out, DAF had bigger plans than that. They were planning a new album, to be completed this summer. It was to be a mix of new compositions, recorded on the fly, and rediscovered hidden gems from their past – unreleased tracks composed in the 1980s but never released.
Today, 47 days after the untimely death of Gabi Delgado, the first of these "left-overs" was made public. Dedicated to the memory of Gabi, it's called "Ich denk an dich" and it's beautiful.
Written in 1981/1982, when the DAF members shared a flat on Holland Road in London, "Ich denk an dich" could just be a remarkable preview of what is to come.Robert Görl has committed to produce the rest of the previously unheard compositions from the 80s. We're looking forward to hearing more of this.
"Ich denk an dich" was produced by Robert Görl with Frankfurt DJ/producer Sylvie Marks. Marks produced some rather epic trance techno with Pete Namlook as Synsyl in the early 1992. Notably, Robert Görl and Namlook were to collaborate just a few years later, releasing two alums under the name Elektro on Namlook's Fax +49-69/450464 label. Marks remixed Marusha in 1995, and started collaborating with HAL 9000 in 1998. Sylvie Marks and HAL 9000's most recent collaborative release, a tape entitled "The Analogue Circles Vol.1", was released in 2018.
Whether Marks is involved in producing further unreleased DAF tracks with Robert Görl, remains to be seen.