Dayseeker, ‘Reproduction’ | The Album Story

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Method earlier than Dayseeker turned part of his life – even earlier than he harnessed the ability of his voice – Rory Rodriguez all the time thought it could simply be him and a guitar. From studying the chords of his favorite songs as a teen to taking part in in espresso outlets to family and friends, there was a consolation to the singer-songwriter position.

Quick ahead to Blue Ridge Rock Pageant in 2022, and Dayseeker’s tools, for lack of a greater phrase, was “fucked”. Slightly than cancel their slot and transfer on, the muscle reminiscence of simply choosing up a guitar and taking part in kicked in for Rory. Pulling collectively a number of of the band’s tracks he had tinkered with stripped again in his personal time, he stepped on stage and delivered a novel show that these there’ll let you know they had been fortunate to expertise. 

“It was cool to know that I may pull that out of my ass,” he laughs, remembering the day with a mixture of fondness and nerves.

“I see movies and suppose I look fairly poised and picked up, however I used to be having an nervousness assault on the within. It was excessive stakes. I believed half the group would go away, nevertheless it was cool to see that we may retain them. I even really feel like the group expanded because it went alongside. I acquired lots of cool messages afterwards saying how a lot it was appreciated as a result of the simpler factor to do would have been to not play in any respect. Greater than something, it opened the door in an enormous approach.”

What he means by that’s that it triggered the inception of ‘Reproduction’, the band’s first full launch of stripped-back choices. Slightly than a number of tracks taped onto the tip of a deluxe version, that efficiency at Blue Ridge acquired the cogs transferring on how they may commemorate what they’d achieved with their final two data, 2019’s ‘Sleeptalk’ and 2022’s ‘Darkish Solar’ in a extra memorable and vital method. The result’s a testomony to Dayseeker’s songwriting prowess and the emotional depths they’re keen to dive into. Taking songs that talk of affection, loss and studying curves, stripping away the layers and revealing their atmospherically touching and starkly lovely core, this launch is as stunningly affecting as it’s splendidly enthralling. Each heartbreak feels the heavier, every account of grief extra gargantuan, and the entire celebration of life feels much more joyous. Making a temper that’s brilliantly synonymous with solely them while exploring how time impacts the issues that life throws at us, it’s an astonishing timestamp for a band with so many fantastic tips nonetheless up their sleeve.

“Often, if you make a document, there’s inside and exterior strain that comes with making new songs that should be actually good and appease your followers,” Rory explains.

“This was really easy, simply making it with our producer, Dan Braunstein. The songs had been already written; we simply needed to do them in a approach that we thought was cool. It felt low strain and one of the painless recording experiences I’ve ever had.”

So, to find extra about what went into this gorgeously grand assortment, Rock Sound sat down with Rory to peel again much more layers…

THE SOUND

Anybody who has adopted Dayseeker from post-hardcore prospects to dancefloor-filling showmen all through the previous decade will understand how layered their music is. Creating an environment, be that smoky and neon-stained or pitch black and daunting, is a crucial a part of the recipe. So, when it got here to taking issues again to the fundamentals for ‘Reproduction’, no components had been modified. Slightly than simply recording acoustic guitar and vocals and calling it a day, Rory and Dan Braunstein approached every monitor as they did through the unique album periods.

“Daniel has a very nice profile full of various soundscapes that he makes use of,” Rory explains.

“It was a case of placing collectively three or 4 layered issues that might go all over the track. So, there could be a extremely ethereal layer after which one thing that has a motion and cadence to it to hold the track. These are my favorite sorts of data and sounds, the place issues are pulled again, but it nonetheless feels such as you’re listening to God come by the audio system.”

That’s why ‘Sleeptalk’ seems like driving by town as nightfall bleeds into daybreak, ‘Homesick’ channels the stillness of the midnight fairly than the wind on prime of the mountain, and ‘Neon Grave’ shimmers with the brightness of lightning fairly than the chaos of thunder. The tracks nonetheless obtain the intimacy you’d anticipate from stripped-back refrains, however in addition they really feel solely reworked from their blueprints. By permitting themselves to be simply as inventive with these new takes as they had been the primary time, Rory feels he has discovered new admiration for the Dayseeker discography.

“It seems like we fell in love with a few of the songs another time. Getting an opportunity to recreate them in these other ways actually ignited that. We’re recording this so we are able to make it as cool as we need to and go all out on it.  It was very nice to breathe new life in such a approach.”

THE COLLABORATORS

In addition to having fun with with the ability to play for therefore many individuals over the previous few years, making new mates on the highway can be an important facet of band life for Rory. From scene associates to full-time buddies, ‘Reproduction’ has allowed him to ask a few of his nearest and dearest to do their factor and assist them out. On the breath-taking ‘With out Me’, Amber DeLaRosa matches Rory’s tearstained efficiency effortlessly, Holding Absence’s Lucas Woodland pops up on the heartbreaking ‘Ravenous To Be Empty’, and Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo showcases his pop chops on a stirring ‘Burial Plot’. They’re a formidable trio who all give their appearances their all.

“I’m an enormous fan of Amber’s band, Moxy The Band, and their final document, ‘Dream Feeling’, is my favorite factor I’ve heard within the final couple of years. She has such distinction and character to her voice. You may inform it’s her over anybody else,” Rory begins. 

“Lucas has among the best voices in our trendy scene proper now. Just a few years in the past, we did a tour collectively honouring ‘Sleeptalk’, the place we performed it in full. That track on the album has a feminine characteristic. We didn’t have a woman on the tour who may assist sing these elements, however Lucas has the vary of a girl, so I requested if he would do it dwell. It was a no brainer to have him on this model.”

“And Caleb is a brand new buddy in my life. We toured in Australia final summer time and hit it off so properly. I haven’t made a buddy within the touring world like that in a very long time. As a result of Beartooth is all the time so balls to the wall, listening to him rein his voice in a little bit was cool. Extra clean and sultry.”

Every voice and persona may be very totally different, however they’re all linked by the blossoming relationships with Dayseeker and Rory. It seems like a fruits of the strikes the band have remodeled the previous few years and the group they’ve been in a position to construct inside that.

“They’re all individually my favorite individuals I’ve met over time,” Rory provides with a smile.

“It’s surreal as a result of I’m additionally a fan of their bands. I like them as musicians as a lot as mates.”

THE LYRICS

For a lot of artists, writing lyrics is their likelihood to get a sense out of their chest, put it into artwork after which shut the lid. Issues which might be so uncooked, actual and trustworthy that revisiting them may be fairly a trial. Contemplating the issues Rory has been by over the previous few years which have impressed his lyrical content material, most notably the lack of his father, which hangs heavy over ‘Darkish Solar’, the prospect of returning to these feelings is hard to navigate. Nevertheless, it was on a song-by-song foundation that this course of was examined, depending on precisely what it was impressed by. 

Take the gorgeous ‘Burial Plot’ for instance. Slightly than being written about one in all Rory’s personal experiences, it stemmed from a buddy’s break-up. By channelling what he was advised about that and the faults that will have led to it, he felt extra chilled in returning to the heart-wrenching storytelling. However, however, when you may have a track like ‘Afterglow’ written about Rory’s daughter Hazel when she was nonetheless a child, the feelings round it are continually altering. As Hazel will get older, Rory’s notion of the track adjustments with the life that they’re now residing. By permitting himself to dive again into these snapshots, regardless of their origin, he has reminded himself of why he cherished creating music within the first place.

“Recording these songs in such a naked and intimate approach means you’re pressured to confront lots of emotions you had while writing the songs. However it’s what I like about music. From a younger age, listening to this sort of unhappy music was actually cathartic for me. Then, discovering my capacity to get into songwriting helped me take care of issues as properly. With one thing as horrible as my dad passing away, it’s unhappy. Nonetheless, there’s one thing so liberating and emotionally liberating to jot down about it on a uncooked degree.”

This stark songwriting can be mirrored within the alternative of canopy track on the finish of the discharge. That’s ‘My Immortal’, the enduring piano ballad from Evanescence, a track Rory has been threatening to cowl for almost 20 years. Returning to such mournful moments inside Dayseeker’s songs, the attractive grief inside that monitor felt excellent. 

“With the sentiments of loss and grief, the track is fairly straight to the purpose of what it’s about. It feels prefer it parallels what ‘Darkish Solar’ is about. We virtually did a My Chemical Romance cowl, however this track got here up. I’ve had the important thing found out since highschool the place it could comfortably slot in my vary. Dan introduced it up as an thought with out figuring out that, however this was the one if there was a track for us to cowl. It has been within the making for a very long time.”

THE ARTWORK AND TITLE

There’s one thing fairly pretty about discovering a title meaning a set of reworked variations can slot into your discography with out it standing out as such. ‘Reproduction’ works completely for that. On the floor, it does precisely what it says on the tin. A reproduction of one thing that already exists however can be totally different concurrently. It’s a phrase that has caught with Rory for some time, one thing he truly had lined up for a track thought. 

“It was a working title for a track I by no means fairly completed. I appreciated the thought of relating the sensation of dropping a former girlfriend or lover and changing them with a carbon copy model. The idea remains to be cool however not one thing we ever fleshed out in Dayseeker or any of my different initiatives. Then, once we had been placing this all collectively, I had it in my mind. These are carbon copies, totally different variations of songs we’ve got accomplished.”

That concept of carbon copies may be discovered throughout the art work as properly. By taking the form of the eclipse seen on the quilt of ‘Darkish Solar’ and changing it with the disco ball spinning above the tub on the quilt of ‘Sleeptalk’, it brings this contemporary period of Dayseeker collectively cohesively and clearly. Honouring each data, tying into the 80’s stylized theme that has outlined a lot of their spine while nonetheless delivering decadence and darkness, exhibits how a lot care and precision goes into the whole lot that Dayseeker put their identify to.

THE FUTURE

Although this may occasionally really feel like a extremely pretty stopgap for Dayseeker earlier than they consider the following step, the reality is that they’re simply loving the place they’re proper now. Taking within the sights and sounds and revelling within the measurement of the crowds which might be popping out to see them, for Rory, it’s probably the most fantastic second he can bear in mind the band being in.

“I undoubtedly really feel like that is the happiest that any of us have been taking part in music. The time proper now may be very thrilling as a result of the trajectory retains on rising. I believe it’s one thing we discuss so much. A whole lot of bands have their day within the solar, after which a number of years later, they aren’t as fashionable. I really feel just like the individuals with us are lifelong die-hard followers.”

From supporting Staind in stadiums throughout the US and Pierce The Veil in arenas round Europe, the quantity of ears which have the prospect to turn out to be lifetime members of the membership is larger than ever. And whereas having fun with these moments, Rory can be conscious that they haven’t come simply. There was a time once they had been scraping to take any tour they may, taking part in to anybody who would have them. Having this regular upward trajectory, honing their abilities and choosing up the tempo the place essential, has allowed them the area to go searching them and take all of it in now. So no matter could come subsequent, you realize they may do it with an enormous sense of satisfaction.

“It’s been good to select what’s finest for our band now. We’re tremendous fortunate to have what we’ve got as a result of we had been on the opposite aspect for therefore lengthy. So, we’ll take pleasure in it for so long as it lasts.”