Day Wave, the musical project from the Jackson Phillips, released their first single last year but quickly saw their buzz grow across the blogosphere. This year, one month after the release of their debut EP, Headcase, Day Wave brought his dreamy rock to the sold-out Mercury Lounge in New York City to perform for the first time in the city. Before the doors opened on that August evening, a long line had formed at the venue of people waiting to get in including — surprisingly the group in front of me discussed already having seen Day Wave perform somewhere, so it seems he’s building a fanbase. Before Day Wave took the stage, they had Brooklyn based Surf Rock Is Dead stir up the crowd.
When Phillips and his band finally took the stage, Day wave ripped into songs right from the EP, “Nothing at All” and “Total Zombie”. “Ripped” might be too strong a word really, as Day Wave’s music recalls bands like Tennis or Real Estate. Day Wave rides a lovely pastiche of ’80s lo-fi synth pop. But so far, the band’s dreamy sonic collage only encompasses five recorded songs (which are streaming below) so I was surprised to see almost a dozen listed on the setlist. Their best known song might be “Drag” and it was definitely the highlight of the set — I could see a lot of people singing along with Phillips. And during the show, I enjoyed hearing the other EP tracks as well as their cover of New Order’s “Ceremony”, which worked well and also received a strong response. But many of the unreleased songs didn’t seem to have much distinction from each other creating a bit of muddle in the mix. That’s alright though, since you can’t fault them for stretching themselves to entertain the packed venue. It’s already been a busy year for Phillips and his band shows promise. We will definitely hear more from Day Wave in the near future.
Surf Rock is Dead
Day Wave
SET LIST
Nothing at All
Total Zombie
Come Home Now
Wasting Time
Drag
Promises
Waiting for Nothing
Ceremony
Something Here
Headcase
We Try But We Don’t Fit In