Day & Dream — featuring Filipino-American keyboardist-vocalist Abby Amaya and husband-guitarist Peter Frizzante — channel Lewis Carroll on “The Art of Remembering”. Handout
“The Art of Remembering” album cover. Day & Dream — featuring Filipino-American keyboardist-vocalist Abby Amaya and husband-guitarist Peter Frizzante — channel Lewis Carroll on their 2nd album. Handout
North Carolina shoegazers Day & Dream is the latest band to go down the rabbit hole that Lewis Carroll introduced in the book “Alice in Wonderland” back in 1865.
Other bands that have been inspired by Alice in Wonderland include Jefferson Airplane (the song “White Rabbit” from their debut album), Aerosmith (in their song “Sunshine”), Tom Waits (who released the album Alice in 2002), and Avril Lavigne (who likewise made use of that name for a song for Tim Burton’s 2010 film, Alice in Wonderland) to name a few.
Filipino-wise, there is Singapore-based band Narcloudia whose debut extended play single, Sky Spectre, features the songs “Mad Madder” and “Rabbit Hole.”
Now, there is Day & Dream and their Filipino-American keyboardist and vocalist Abby Amaya. The band just released their wonderful 2nd album ”The Art of Remembering”.
“We were playing around with the story of dreams which is iconic to our name,” explained Amaya. “We love sleep references, pajamas, beds and things like that as well as ‘Alice in Wonderland’.”
The songs “Rabbit Hole” and “When You Wake” have overt references to “Alice in Wonderland.”
The album cover sports a fantastical image of a sleeping woman whose hair is a waterfall with forest folk such as a grizzly bear, deer, and a rabbit wandering about. It lends to the overall dreaminess that is a hallmark of shoegaze and dream pop music.
“The art is from a Brazilian artist named Taki and we love his art,” shared Abby. “I approached him with the idea of the album and gave him the title. He came up with the girl and the waterfall hair. After we got that, we thought about some animals that were particular for us – a white rabbit to reference ‘Alice in Wonderland’, the bear which is my spirit animal and it is fitting as we live in North Carolina and there are tons of black bears. When My mom and grandmother passed away, I kept seeing these deer in and around my urban area of San Francisco so the deer became symbolic.”
While the traditional shoegaze style is marked by guitar effects, jangly guitars, inaudible voices and lyrics, Day & Dream bring something different to the mix.
Every chance he gets, Amaya’s husband, guitarist Peter Frizzante, sneaks in licks of Pavement, the Flaming Lips, and Wilco to name but a few of the bands that fronted the alternative music surge of the 1990s.
“We’re definitely fans of the Pavement and the Flaming Lips,” admitted Frizzante. “It slips into our subconscious when we’re playing.”
Added Amaya: “We are children of the 1980s and 90s. We have a nostalgic place in our hearts. There is one effect Peter had on ‘When You Wake’ that we call “the Pavement sound.”
Not all the songs on “The Art of Remembering” have that dense wall of guitar sound. In fact, most songs are sparse in their layering allowing the listener to fully take in all the instruments as well as the vocals and the lyrics.
“Peter and I are really into writing,” explained Abby. “It is something we are passionate about. I was an English teacher for 10 years so story and writing is super important to me. Each song we write is like a story and film.”
“Originally we were thinking of different names for the title,” summed up Frizzante. “Then we stumbled into the phrase ‘the art of’ and we had the word ‘remembering.’ So we put them together.”
“You hear about philosophers and spiritual people talking about living in the past is not good as you will be depressed. If you live in the future, you will be anxious. ‘The Art of Remembering’ is also about being present in the moment. We applied this in living in the present. It is good to let go and good to maintain or remember them in a meaningful way. That is what we are trying to say — hold on to the good memories.”
Day & Dream’s “The Art of Remembering” is distributed by Lilystars Records and is available on all streaming devices. Look for a physical release soon.