Vancouver’s daysormay deliver an intimate and powerful exploration of change and self-awareness in their new album, ‘MODERATION.’
Stream: ‘MODERATION’ – daysormay
Canadian trio daysormay recently unveiled their new ten-track album, MODERATION, giving listeners an intimate look into the inner-workings of lead singer Aidan Andrews’ mind.
Aptly named, the album delves into Andrews’ struggle with moderation and lack of self-restraint when it comes to indulging in pleasures. MODERATION also nods to the production of the album, with daysormay setting out to create a minimalist soundscape that focuses primarily on melody, lyrics, bass and drums.
“The perspective starts off as a self-focused, very narrow field of view, only focusing on myself and my problems/vices,” Andrews explains. “It stays in this view for the first few tracks on the album, and then the perspective gradually shifts to a wider field of view, by the end of the album focusing on my relationships with others and how I’m affecting them, my influence on the world around me, and my shortcomings and how those have affected people in my life.”
“There are several allusions to religion and addiction on this album, specifically referencing saints from Roman Catholicism and steps from addiction recovery programs. MODERATION is also shortened to MOD ERA (‘modification era,’ or ‘a time of change‘).”
Alongside Andrews are twins Carson and Nolan Bassett on rhythm section. The three teamed up with 3-time Grammy and Juno award winning producer Chin Injeti (Dr. Dre, Drake, Eminem, Aloe Blacc, Anderson. Paak) and T-Minus (Lil Wayne, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd) for MODERATION, and the result is something that takes daysormay’s unique sound and style to a whole new level. The album is the epitome of less is more, as the band strips things back to the basics, eliminating any unnecessary elements.
Atwood Magazine spoke with daysormay as they take us track-by-track through their introspective sophomore album.
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:: stream/purchase MODERATION here ::
:: connect with daysormay here ::
:: Inside MODERATION ::
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“MOD ERA”
From the moment I wrote them down, I felt like these lyrics should be the throughline for the album, but I wanted it to not just come from me. It felt more powerful hearing groups of people sing that to you, and I love the fact that the album starts like this.
“SIMMER”
“SIMMER” is about giving into temptation. There was a point in 2021 when I had covid, and I was isolated in my room for a while. I was really struggling at the time to moderate my consumption of everything, I was giving into any and every impulse that showed up, and I didn’t care. So to me the song is speaking from that place, that state of mind of knowing you’re too far gone but not caring, and even leaning into it.
“BUZZING”
We had the chords and the chorus words for years, but in so many different keys and tempos, in so many different production styles, but nothing ever felt right.
Chin coming in to work on the album was such a blessing, because he was able to hear where we wanted to go, and showed us how to get there.
Lyrically, it’s about sinking in. Being aware that you shouldn’t be living this way but not being able to get that spark in your brain to fire that tells you it’s time to change. So you just sit in it.
“UV”
I remember it being July + August 2023, basically no AC in our house, windows open, sweating through my shirt, recording vocals on an SM7B with strong autotune. That’s kind of why we wanted to keep the lines where I stumble a bit, because it evoked that feeling, what it felt like to be in that room again, in that heat.
The feeling in the song is about waking up one day and suddenly feeling that you’re on the other side of your childhood, you’re now separated from the first act of your life.
“5.5.22”
This was made by turning on a lot of distortion and autotune on my mic, swinging it in front of the speakers, and then pointing it at different angles to get different feedback tones. I made this in between working on SIMMER, AUTO, and EVERYBODY. I think Carson and Nolan were out for a walk at the time.
“AUTO”
“AUTO” was one of the first ideas that acted as a catalyst for the album’s direction and sonic palette. We got to a hotel in Edmonton before a show, and I found take45’s TikTok of him playing the riff on a synth, and immediately threw it into Ableton and started working on it. I named it “AUTO” after Auto-Destructive art, because the song sounded like it was destroying itself from the inside out, but also because it felt like it was a rejection of our previous selves and our prior sound. The idea was to make something shocking that would hit you in the face as soon as you hit play.
“IN BUT NOT OF”
This song is about how I felt as a kid, and how I still want to be as fearless and focused now as I was back then, but the longer I live, the harder I find it to do. Trying to stay true to yourself and your soul in a world that facilitates and sensationalizes the opposite.
“EVERYBODY”
This was our “COVID song” in a sense. It was a strange way of life at that time. Constantly hearing about people dying and horrible things happening out there in the world, but then to be completely fine yourself, was bizarre for me. It was easy for me to forget, and I didn’t know how to reconcile that.
“FORWARDISM”
My dad called me while I was working on a song, and I forgot to stop recording the mic. He always has little pieces of wisdom that he drops on my brother and I. I’m just glad that I could catch one and include it on the album.
“ALL I HAVE”
I really looked up to my grandpa, and it’s one of my deepest regrets that I couldn’t understand at the time truly how valuable the stories and experiences he had were. When he passed away I pretty much didn’t react, and that always messed with me. So this song was a byproduct of me writing and writing, just trying to process the experience in hopes of understanding why I did what I did back then.
My grandparents had a son that died very young, and they wanted two kids, so they had my dad. It always stuck with me that if someone hadn’t died, I wouldn’t be here, and I had never talked about that or really even processed it.
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:: stream/purchase MODERATION here ::
:: connect with daysormay here ::
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© Brendan Meadows
© Brendan MeadowsMODERATION
an album by daysormay
