Daydream Plus Second Last Day Of Summer Vinyl

There’s an old trope about the last day of summer vacation; that it represents access to endless, effortless joy. But it’s not really like that at all. Just ask Payson Power, the guitarist and creative force behind Toronto’s Daydream Plus. “Growing up, whenever I’d see a film that takes place on the last day of summer, I’d be like, ‘You’re already at the depressing part!’ The good part is the second-to-last day of summer, because it’s the last day you can live consequence-free.” That moment, where you can still watch movies and play video games until the sun comes up, is what inspired Power to write Daydream Plus’ first full-length album, Second Last Day of Summer. What makes that day so beautiful is, subconsciously, you know it’s all about to come to an end.After two EPs where the Toronto trio existed in the narrow overlap between intricate math rock and urbane city pop, Power slowly expanded his scope. Taking bits from video game soundtracks, energetic anime scores, and even chords yanked straight from the Steely Dan songbook, Second Last Day of Summer sees Daydream Plus building a more richly detailed world. Aided by Power’s fellow Tomb Mold bandmates, drummer Max Klebanoff and bassist Kevin Sia, the trio work to take the spirit of Don Caballero and apply a sheen of smooth jazz atop it.After a lifetime spent playing heavy music, Power formed Daydream Plus in 2020 as a way to explore melodic, catchy compositions, indulging influences he’d only been able to access in brief flashes. This decision quickly begat another equally important one. "Right away, I knew I didn’t want any vocals. There's an emotional flexibility to avoiding the obligatory instruction manual of lyrics,” he says. Yet, with Power handling both rhythm and lead guitar parts for Second Last Day of Summer, instead of looking to virtuosic shredders for inspiration, he began toying with how to inject the spirit of a vocal melody into his playing.“When you translate a great vocal line to guitar, you often realize how much space there is around it. So when I wrote the leads for this record, I was trying to not fill every single second of it,” says Power. That’s something that technical bands so routinely fall victim to; snuffing out open space for the sake of musical one-upsmanship. While Power’s initial impulses pushed him toward maximalism, he found the songs only took shape once he reduced the complexity. But, the songs would only reach their final form once his bandmates got hold of them, as Klebanoff and Sia took these guitar-only sketches and helped turn them into vividly colored worlds. A single listen to “Emergency Exit” partnership this approach pays dividends. Klebanoff’s shimmering drum groove allows Power’s ebullient leads to flutter atop. Just as quickly as Power establishes the song’s melodic center, he pulls back, allowing Sia’s bass to carry the weight before the song goes into overdrive with a tasteful blastbeat section.Similarly, “Hard to Destroy” was a song that started in the most excessive place possible, with harmonized tapping parts that Power now describes as preposterous. “One of the things that helped me keep from going overboard in the midst of writing the record was listening to a soundtrack like Mega Man 2 and realizing the hooks are often like, four notes. A lot of those songs are only 30 seconds long yet you never get sick of them. Those familiar compositions are a reminder for me that melody is paramount over technicality."That video game sensibility informs the album’s three interludes (“Lockpick,” “Undertow,” and “Constellation”), all of which play more like cutscenes than traditional musical detours. The songs all lead into, or build off of, the ones they neighbor; further establishing the fantasy world Daydream Plus is developing. “Before I wrote the record I knew exactly what we were capable of building. I storyboarded the ebb and flow of the track order very early on, down to the song titles. I wanted the album to be over 30 minutes but under 31 minutes; it’s 30:53,” Power says with pride. This attention to the most microscopic details is what allows Second Last Day of Summer to feel focused and controlled, bringing that city pop influence to the table in both a sonic and spiritual way.That deep planning allowed Daydream Plus to enter Toronto’s Union Sound studios with engineer Darren McGill with a clarity of vision and deeply focused approach. “I remember Max [Klebanoff] saying it’s the most prepared he ever went into tracking a record. None of us wanted to waste studio time asking questions or refining our parts. Everything that made it on the record was tried and tested,” says Power. That said, Power’s own perfectionist tendencies still crept in, causing him to redo his guitar takes until they cleared his personal bar.That planning also left room for guests to step in and help fulfill Power’s vision. From American Football’s Steve Lamos contributing