The Daysleepers

Never eat beans before scuba diving


I was listening to The Radio Dept. on Last.fm and stumbled upon an excellent New York band called The Daysleepers. Dreamy guitars with a lot of reverb creating a lush, layered, textured sound reminiscent of highly influential acts of the early 90's like Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, perhaps some other more obscure 4AD bands (Red House Painters) or Projekt bands (Love Spirals Downwards). In fact, they describe themselves on their homepage as "shoegaze, dreampop, ambient music", having been inspired by "Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, and the Chameleons". Oooh, just what I like. On Amazon.com, there's an impressive quote from Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins: "Lovely sounds ... lovely guitars." The album features both male vocals with a sense of nostalgic longing and beautiful ethereal female vocals. It's pure awesomeness.

Their web splash page has nice contemporary design elements: dark photo of giant octopus tentacles overlaid with a nice 2d floral illustration with half opacity.


Think twice before ordering the Phillip McKraken sushi...


I like how the 2d illustration looks a wee bit like flowers and a wee bit like waves. The tentacles are a nice association with the first track "Release The Kraken" from their first full debut album "Drowned in a Sea of Sound" (2008). For that track, I like how the "release" has a double meaning: does it mean "unleash", as in, unleash the monstrous kraken to destroy the world? or does it mean "free", as in free the enigmatic mysteries of nature? In the lyrics, it's kinda cool that the Kraken is a symbol for love. About the Kraken...


This Kraken loves the people on the ship


...on a random note, I originally thought this band was Swedish. Why you ask? Well, I was listening to Swede Pop on Last.fm, and this band was part of the set. So when I found the album on Amazon.com, and saw that the first track was called "Release the Kraken", I naturally thought it was a Swedish band, since the first thing one thinks about the Swedes are gigantic Krakens.


Swedish Chef playing air guitar


Current band members are:
- Jeff Kandefer
- Scott Beckstein
- Elizabeth Kandefer
- Mario Gimbrone


It's always snowing in Buffalo, NY


Current discography is:
- Drowned in a Sea of Sound (2008)
- The Soft Attack (EP) (2006)
- Hide Your Eyes (EP) (2006)

External Links:
- The Daysleepers
- Amazon.com
- Browse similar bands on Last.fm
- Discography on discogs.com
- Myspace