Dayzed has released Wake Up The Sun, a glistening nine-track collection that serves as the Melbourne musician’s debut album.
Opening with the solely instrumental title track, Wake Up The Sun coasts on twangy guitar strings and a fuzz rock groove. Inhabiting a shoegaze sound, the album opener features ambient backing production and brooding synth lines, which make for a distinct summertime aesthetic in the track’s latter half.
Here, the instrumentation crescendos into a soundscape that can only be described as sublime, almost purpose-built for a sunny afternoon reverie.
Eliciting such a distinct sonic feel is a feat for any song, but Wake Up To The Sun carves out its ebullient lane without the assist of lyrics.
The sun-drenched, daydream quality of Dayzed’s sound continues on Tidal Gaze, which sees the return of fuzzy guitar and the introduction of enrapturing vocals.
Pairing his distinct rasp with a grittier tune, Dayzed begins with a grunge-adjacent, reverb-heavy sound that later transforms into something cleaner; amping down the instrumentation in favour of regal synths and a glittering fade-out finish.
Wake Up The Sun is at its sunniest on Quicksand, a track so warm you can almost bask in its infectious glow. In what sounds like a more subdued version of a Dune Rats cut, Quicksand contains the kind of shimmering guitars and subtle percussion that might soundtrack an afternoon bike ride, which is not to say it’s devoid of head-thrashing potential.
Earworm guitar melodies float atop noisier moments of clashing cymbals and fast-paced drums, as Dayzed sings of the difficulty that comes with starting over again.
Later, Dayzed peels back the raucous with sparse acoustic guitar strums and ambient production. Here, sporadic tambourines make for an outro so airy you might just levitate to the heavens.
Perhaps the album’s purest example of shoegaze, Sometimes is at once luminous and gravelly, while its successor Now You Know spotlights Dayzed’s vocals at their most resplendent.
The latter track, with its catchy melodies and sci-fi electronica, is a showcase of Dayzed’s versatility, which only broadens on album standout Tunnel Vision.
Here, Dayzed veers into pop territory with a bouncy throughline beat, vocal harmonies and catchy call-and-response ad libs, before treading more sombre territory on penultimate track On The Run.
With its hazy production and alt-rock leanings, On The Run serves as the album’s denouement, where Dayzed reflects on “this strange life” and wakes up to what he “couldn’t see.”
Wake Up The Sun finds its worthy conclusion on the windswept closer Ether, where Dayzed applies a delicate touch to his guitar work for the album’s rawest and most angelic entry yet.
The wordless track incorporates coastal sounds to place the listener squarely aside Dayzed’s beachside session, before flitting to atmospheric synths and a minutes-long euphony of his collective talents with guitar, percussion and electronica.
Dayzed is the project of Melbourne-based bedroom musician Josh Prendergast, who previously released his first-ever EP Haze in 2017.
Wake Up The Sun marks Prendergast’s debut full-length effort, and with a tracklist as intoxicating as this, it’s clear he’s just getting started.
Dayzed will celebrate the album’s release with a Wake Up The Sun launch party at Melbourne’s Old Bar on September 29. Find tickets and more information here, and in the meantime, listen to Dayzed’s debut album Wake Up The Sun below.
