In Conversation With #215 - Dayfiction
For fans of Fontaines D.C., Shame and Wunderhorse - Virginia-based post-punk outfit Dayfiction have just released their new EP 'Divine Intermission'.
A gripping new EP that pushes the band further into a sound defined by abrasive energy, emotional immediacy, and atmospheric intensity. Recorded in the days leading up to vocalist Evan Solomon’s temporary relocation to London, the project stands as both a timestamp and confrontation of modern turbulence, a record equally unforgiving in its urgency and desperate in its search for meaning and beauty.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Dayfiction, how are you? So your EP is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?.
Evan: We are feeling great, thank you. It’s been a busy few weeks. I just got back home from London, a week before the release. We did a show the evening I got in, a completely impulsive decision, but I couldn’t ask for anything else on the day I got back. Noah got me from the airport, and then had gone immediately to practice, and then we were straight to the show. I also had not properly slept for forty something hours. It was euphoric to play together again. I’m incredibly relieved the EP is out, and that it is being well-received. It’s been like eight or nine months in the making. And the recording felt risky with only having a few days until we were going to be on a few months of hiatus, and with myself leaving for England. Also managing all the other aspects of putting out a piece of music, setting up the release shows, the promo and press stuff, and managing that with other life stuff like University, and being in a different country. It really required a hundred and fifty percent effort. We wanted to give these songs the best shot we could, and are excited for this summer. I am beyond humble and grateful that everything worked out. The release show on Friday was incredible. I just got to New York now too, so things have been busy but it’s good, and I am going down to Virginia super often. I found fifteen dollar Amtrak tickets if you go overnight.
Noah: It feels really great. This EP was made during a big shift in a lot of our lives. I had just gone to college in Asheville with Hannah Johnson, and that meant that we weren't going to be able to play as many shows together or write songs in my garage like normal. So to be able to come back home for a month and grind out what was just demos for the near future into this EP was so relieving and felt almost cinematic because of how little time we had before everyone had to go back to school.
Mateo: It’s a great feeling to have been a part of something like this. I’ve wanted to make this kind of music since I was like 14 and being a member of a band with so many talented people who also happen to be great friends is really something I would wish for for years. It’s almost hard to fully believe that I am on these songs sometimes like they’re almost separate from me when I listen in that way but I always come back to feeling gratitude and confidence about it which is really nice. Like I suddenly remember as I’m listening; “wow I’m actually in this song.”
Jackson: Doing fantastic. Extremely proud of what we have put out and it feels like both a weight lifted and a ton of excitement.
Hannah: It feels amazing to finally have this EP out. We really pushed ourselves in the studio to have this out. I can remember retaking the live takes over and over again to have them perfect, and some of them we had felt were really good just off the first take.
It is called ‘Divine Intermission' – what is the meaning behind that?
Mateo: I think there is a certain religious element to the songs Evan wrote, not in the sense that it aligns strictly to faith but more so in the perception of what is held sacred and that through faith, which doesn’t necessarily have to be religion you know, just faith in what you have, and faith in what will come, is enough to be content. I think it’s also sort of a stop and see kind of metaphor. Like take a breath and look around: some things aren’t great but the things that are can be enough. Noah also said it relates to a break like a smoke break which was funny but I think there is also some of that separation from all the external. Like having a moment to oneself to find what is “divine” or again, enough.
Noah: Intermission was an old name of one of the songs off the EP, Castles, and we knew we wanted to use it for something. We thought that Divine Intermission sounded sick and went with a lot of the themes in the EP but also was a funny name for a smoke break, so we ended up all agreeing on it.
Jackson: I find the title to come from the current state of our world and how it definitely seems that whatever higher power may exist clearly is on hiatus.
Hannah: Initially when Noah and I were talking about the name he described it as a "godly smoke break.”
Evan: Yeah I noticed there were a few religious words or imagery, the whole “saints” thing in “Benevolent.” I think in some sense the EP is not largely about feeling defeated by anything but more so the aspect of observing, confronting, and questioning nearly everything and every thought I had about what I was seeing on a larger scale of the world or even about random traits in society that you can’t get behind, like apathy, self destructive tendencies, or immorality. There’s a very critical or prophetic kind of energy within many of the songs, something that I am very proud of. Like commanding the truth to be unmasked. By the end it’s that point where you submit yourself to acceptance, and what and who you cling on to, I guess to carry on. Overall, I think they can be widely interpreted, politically, socially, etc.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
Evan: Plenty of them, yes. It was recorded at Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia, which is a legendary studio there. We worked with Ian Marburger, who was wonderful and is incredibly talented. I think he’s doing a lot of Richmond bands right now. John Morrand, the founder of the studio, would pop in every day for a bit. I did the vocals in London. Our friends Madeline and Henry live in London and heard through our friend Griffin from Richmond, who is Madeline’s brother, that I needed to get the vocals done, so they were a godsend and let me come over and do them.There was a lot of pressure, as I was moving that same week to the UK. That combined with the stresses of getting good recordings down was challenging. It would be a great relief from that stress when we would walk back into the control room and John would be dancing around to it, say that he was liking a chorus, or ask me what certain songs were about. Ian’s dog, Darla, was chilling around too. Studio dogs are great.
Mateo: A moment for me was recording some of those melodies and solos specifically in “When Reason Comes To Call” and the solo in “June.” I’m the type of player that does best when improvising a bit or free styling at the moment. The solo in June has hardly ever been played the same way twice and the second take I had I just was in it, so even after doing more takes I knew that was the one and Ian who recorded us said the same thing. I think my band mates also know this and it was cool to sort of receive support in that like when recording When Reason Come To Call, Evan had a specific idea that he wrote in for a melody and I just couldn’t replicate it exactly and then Noah and him were just like “you know what, just do it how it comes out, do it how you feel,” and I did and that’s what’s on the EP. It's just cool to have that freedom and also that trust from your band mates.
Hannah: It was a great experience. The studio even had a fridge, so we were drinking a lot of blue gatorade.
What are the key influences behind the EP?
Mateo: With Evan there’s always a bit of different things involved. I remember he was in a big Bob Dylan spell while writing some of the chord progressions and the lyrics which is where some of those kinds of mythical and prophetic themes come through. Joy Division are like his Beatles so I think there’s always an element from that in terms of the underlying despaired or droney atmosphere that’s present, at least on the first four tracks. I also found this array of songs to be a lot more melodic and involving a sort of yearning or pleading which reminded me of Robert Smith or even Black Francis whenever he sort of puts more voice to it. I personally love the pixies and a big influence on me is Joey Santiago.
Hannah: Yeah. Mainly bands like The Cure, Fontaines, and Joy Division.
Noah: Fontaines DC was a big one for us, as well as Protomartyr and Wunderhorse.
Evan: Yeah for sure on all of those. Most of the songs started out completely acoustically, and I was really influenced by folk stuff like Dylan, Cash, or Cohen. If the song is good without all the effects and other stuff, I figured it would just be even better when I’d take those songs and a bunch of verses and ideas and then flesh them out with everything the next day. Sometimes that doesn’t always work, we have a few where the effects or random noises mixed with a bass part make the song. That’s especially true on “When Reason Comes To Call.” I wrote the guitar part in that verse there, but it sounded nonsensical until there was the bass part. Sometimes I have a hard time having too many choices and then accidentally start tinkering with effects and all of that too much and my mind would get distracted from the writing. It’s like going to those restaurants where they have literally the biggest menu you have ever seen, you just cannot make a decision. I mostly wanted all of those details to come after the fact of the writing. I was tinkering with the idea of writing very intimately I suppose. I would generally put myself in our practice room with low to no lighting, blank walls, a notebook, and leave my phone outside of the door and wouldn’t leave until there was some sort of progress or until I couldn’t stay awake. As for the general sound, yeah I’d say Joy Division and The Cure, and certainly contemporaries such as Fontaines and Protomartyr.
If the EP could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Noah: Maybe the movie Half Nelson or Beautiful Boy. I feel like there’s a lonely, isolated feeling to it with moments of nihilistic abandon, but also this hopeful tone and recognition of beauty.
Evan: It’s hard for me to say in terms of a movie. Agreed on the Beautiful Boy thing. My friend Griffin lent me a copy of On The Road by Jack Kerouac, I think that would fit nicely. Other than that I think there’s a few on there that would soundtrack Sunburn well. I think the thematic arc throughout the EP would fit something like Shawshank Redemption as well, I suppose in the sense of isolation and despair to respite.
Jackson: Personally I’d love to see this soundtrack Dead Poets Society, something that balances youth and friendship with tragic moments and struggles
Hannah: Honestly, Lords of Dogtown I think at times.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
Mateo: “Who’s to dig the hole out” in “Benevolent.” That to me is just so Dylan-esque within a song that is kind of like a big reflection on several things- the ambiguity but also directness is something I love.
Evan: Mine is probably “But believing is nothing, And Action is substance, And patience is wine for the weak.” Most of the lyrics on “When Reason Comes To Call” are my favorite I’ve written, as are all of the songs on the record. I just felt like that song in particular is wittily harsh and critical about societal apathy or complacency, blind obedience, in context of whatever that may be.
Jackson: The line “When reason comes to call, long lingered flags will fall” has always been a personal favorite. To me, that fits as such a scathing assessment of how a lot of companies, nations etc. of today seem to operate with no sense of morality and when the time comes they will have to answer for it.
Hannah: Not as much of a lyric for so much as it is the sound of our song “Benevolent.” It makes me so happy.
Now the EP is out there – what next for you?
Noah: We're gonna run some New York and Richmond shows over the summer and book a tour for the summer or fall going north of Virginia.
Hannah: Shows and touring for sure.
Evan: Yeah, definitely out of state shows. We are working on booking New York at the moment. The new songs are already in the works, I really like what we have so far, we even played one at the release show for this EP. Not sure what’s next for us there. Right now just enjoying exploration with them between having started new stuff in London and now continuing writing in New York. I think being in both those places is definitely inspiring, and affording a lot of curiosity to my writing.
