Static Daydream at Dagger

First off, I had wondered what had happened to the shoegaze bands Skywave and Ceremony (not the Matador Records one) and well, I’ve found out. The man behind both of those bands, Paul Baker has resurfaced as Static Daydream along with his ladyfriend Jamie Casey. Oh sure, from the first few notes you can tell that they have (multiples) copies of Psychocandy in their collections as well as Isn’t Anything (some Slowdive records, too) but who cares, this 11-song/ 47-minute outing kicks from start to finish! At times there’s not much deviation in the songs, with relentless, pounding rhythms and guitars set on stun but the mix of Baker n’ Casey’s vocals add a little sweetness to the proceedings (especially Caseys’). Not sure what Baker’s lyrics are about but I’m guessing they’re pretty desperate (some song titles: “Just Stay,” “Until You’re Mine,” “When She Fails,” “I’ve Destroyed Everything”, etc.). Speaking of “Just Stay” is one of the few songs that take a reprieve from the pound with an almost dub-like synth outing, otherwise, most of this will put you in trance, like it did me, until I snapped out of it, got hungry and went to make some breakfast (pancakes, if you care). Whew.

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