dayliner
Bridgetown, NS, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2007
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Reviewed by Elysse Cloma
Dayliner is a four-piece indie band hailing from Nova Scotia, who “write pop songs for psychopaths”. Psychopath or not, if you dig bands like Guster or Pedro the Lion, you might enjoy listening to Dayliner. Their 12-track S/T album is 56 minutes of guitar heavy, unabashed rock.
On S/T, Dayliner shows off their ability to play a wide range of songs; from slow, comforting ballads, to pop punk, to upbeat kiss-offs, to past relationships. S/T is a straightforward production with touches of auxiliary sound, like splashes of glockenspiel on “messenger,” and understated guitar loops during the instrumental section of “whisper”.
For the most part, S/T is a variety of uncomplicated pop songs. The drumbeats, while predictable at times, seamlessly provide the sensibilities and structure of each song. “once in awhile” and “so fast” sound like the better side of Bon Iver, with catchy melodies and immaculate high-pitched falsetto vocals.
The chorus break on “say goodbye” is arresting. It’s easily my favourite, and arguably the catchiest, song on the album. It’s commanding and memorable: the chord changes are tense, unpredictable, and well-executed. The soundscape is charged with aggressive guitar chords. “argue” takes the album on a brief and unmistakably pop-punk digression, commendable for its muted guitar and album-appropriate sing-along outro.
S/T seems to take on multiple personalities, which is ever more telling of Dayliner’s ability to convincingly communicate different kinds of musical styles with a hint personal flare. Definitely worth a listen if you’re into variety, Pedro The Lion, or if you’re a psychopath, apparently.
Top Tracks: “whisper”, “say goodbye” - Grayowl Point
Discography
Dayliner - Self Titled (2014)
Dayliner - ii (2016)
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Bio
Nova Scotia indie band dayliner has released a cd version of their second album, aptly named "ii".
Ongoing discussion during recording led to the initial decision to release "ii" exclusively online. It was made available in the usual places (Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, etc.), with the thought that the cd format had run its course. Turns out, we were wrong.
"We released our first album in 2014 and it got quite a few adds on Canadian college radio", says bassist Jai Soloy. "When we released the new album digitally, we were surprised to find that there is still an expectation at most Canadian college radio stations for a band to provide a physical copy for airplay. We were getting requests for cds at shows too. The cd is Monty Python's Black Knight of music formats."
dayliner ii was recorded, mixed, and mastered by multi-instrumentalist Caleb Miles at his home studio. ”Our first cd was a very 'kitchen sink' production. Pretty much anything and everything we could sprinkle on top of the band with overdubs was thrown into the mix, backwards pianos, upside down baritone harmonicas, low flying tubular bells, whatever...which was exciting at the time but for this album we decided to stick a little closer to what the band sounds like live. There are still some guitar parts and keyboards added here and there, but overall it is much more representational of what you'd hear if you came to a show. I think the next cd will be even more so…"
dayliner ii is a ten-track, guitar-driven, indie rock album featuring catchy melodies and songwriter Derick Smith's strong, expressive vocals.
Pick up a copy from dayliner members near you, request it on your local college radio station, and visit www.daylinerband.com for more info including videos and streaming music.
dayliner is:
Derick Smith: vocals, guitar
Mark Reid: guitar
Jai Soloy: bass
Caleb Miles: drums
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