Dayzed - Dayzed

Dayzed

Dayzed
self-released; 2014

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Dayzed is a band from Australia and is the combined of efforts of Adrian De Vries, Max Malone and Josh Prendergast.  As far as I know their recent self-titled EP Dayzed is their first but hopefully not their last. This was a DIY effort and it is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of production. One thing I did notice right away was that the guitars were sometimes shrill and there were inconsistencies from song to song. For instance their drum sounded polished on the first song but on the third song “The Sun” it sounded weak and flat. It kind of left me scratching my head. 

The band uses a copious amount of reverb and sounds similar to Real Estate but with Bradford Cox from Deerhunter on vocals. It’s not a completely original sound but the band shows some potential with their songwriting. The first track on the EP entitled “Beach” is the clear highlight on the EP. I’m not sure what they did here but everything from the vocals to the drums sound better than any other song on the album. It’s certified dream pop and the vocalist delivers his most memorable vocal melody when he sings “I want to go home” and sounds similar to Jim Reid from the Jesus and Mary Chain. 

“Summer Hayze/Sunset Dayze” is a minute-and-forty seconds long and sounds more like a transition than a fleshed out song. It contains a steady kick drum that supports some respectable guitar and bass parts. “The Sun” while not a particularly bad song is plagued by less than satisfactory production which ends up taking away the visceral impact it may have created. The vocals are muddy and unlike the first song I can’t make out any lyrics. “Pretty Day” gets the band back on track. It’s a solid closer with melodies that while not as effective as the first song are noteworthy. 

Dayzed have some talent but need to dig a bit deeper in order to find out what makes them original. Right now the music sound a bit too similar to Real Estate and will undoubtedly make it harder for them to get traction. They have potential so let’s see what happens.

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