Istanbul duo The Away Days question fate and purpose in “Designed,” an enchanting whirlwind of poignant dream pop reflection.
Stream: “Designed” – The Away Days
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/574163379?secret_token=s-A4gSf” params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=true&visual=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]Are we all designed to be what we’ll be?
Fate can be such a daunting, overwhelming concept: How much agency do we as individuals have? What in our lives is already predetermined, and what is circumstantial? What’s really within our control every day? Istanbul duo The Away Days question fate and purpose in “Designed,” an enchanting whirlwind of poignant dream pop reflection.
Leave it now cause it’s
bringing down all the things you’ve done
Things you’ve done
What we don’t know here,
The life itself and how it works
Like sprawling endless thoughts in my head
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Designed,” The Away Days’ first release of 2019. Signed to Epic Istanbul/Sony Music Turkey, Istanbul-based dream pop duo of Oğuz Can Özen and Sezer Koç mesmerize with lush, synth-fueled soundscapes and lilting, harmonized vocals.
“Designed” is as raw as it is polished, a haunting track of self-doubt, exasperation, restlessness and frustration.
“Istanbul feels like a black hole, more and more each day,” The Away Days tell Atwood Magazine. “It causes us to question life itself, leaving us to wonder if everything around us is being touched and dictated by another power… not by God, but something else.”
How much of our lives is dictated for us? What is really within our control; what can we change? What will stay the same, no matter how hard we fight? These questions and more come to the fore as the Turkish duo envelop their listeners in warm, soft layers of sonic energy:
The Lower you fall,
the slower you die.
Is it the way?
I dunno why, fear is strong,
Surrounds me all the time
like years that passed
(Is it the way you want me in your life?)
The Lower you fall,
the slower you die,
It’s the way and I know why
you’re strange in modern life.
Are we all designed to be what we’ll be?
I know, the moment that you’ll think of me
Life turns out to what it
would be now, would be now.
The Away Days released their debut album Dreamed at Dawn in 2017, which was followed by the single “You Think You’re High” in 2018. The past two years have been full of excitement for the Turkish band, but with every up, there comes a down.
“To be honest, we put in a great effort to be recognized for our music both nationally and internationally,” the band share. “Our hectic schedule and work tempo increasingly brought an anxiety problem onto us. We started to see its effects 3-4 months after the last album release. It was an incredibly wearing and miserable period for us. There is little attention on the mental health of musicians, especially in Turkey. However, it is inevitable to feel this way; if we look at the many musicians who have committed suicide. It was then that we decided to stop everything music related for a while and to take care of ourselves. Working with therapists, we bettered our mental health and got back to the state where we can just focus on enjoying life again and keep producing new music. We are now feeling great again and have started to come up with more music in the past few months.”
All is gone, we’re here
Simple selfish sun is over me
Over me
What we don’t know here,
The life itself and how it works
Like sprawling endless thoughts in my head
“Designed” fuses this anxiety from the past few years with a degree of disconnect, allowing us to appreciate and feel what the band have gone through at a distance. This elevates the song’s sense of dreamlike wonder; by the time The Away Days arrive at the final chorus, our dazzled minds have, to some degree, left this world behind – soaring, instead, in the colorful fantasy laid out for us in song.
Stream The Away Days’ “Designed” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
Stream: “Designed” – The Away Days
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