Daylight's For The Birds

It was a trying time for the pair, as Phillip's former group OnAirLibrary! (Arena Rock Records) had recently disbanded at the height of their popularity following a high-profile national tour opening for Interpol and the Secret Machines. The uncertainty of starting from scratch gave the music the two were churning over in Phillip's Manhattan bedroom studio a sense of emotional immediacy and intensity that refined and transcended the inventive experimental rock that OAL were praised for. After a few months of marathon songwriting sessions (the bi-weekly 12 hour jam sessions running till 3 or 4 am, much to the chagrin of Phillip's neighbors and roommates), the partnership solidified even more when Jay and Phillip entered the Brooklyn studio of producer Steve Revitte (The Liars, Black Dice, The Double) in the summer of 2005. To help realize the full potential of their now-fertile songwriting partnership, Jay and Phillip recruited Former OAL vocalist/keyboard player Claudia Deheza and ex-Boggs drummer Brad Conroy to sing on the pair's first four official songs. A highlight of these early sessions was "Worlds Away," a bittersweet dream of longing which received glowing praise across the blogosphere when posted on the band's myspace page in August. After several buzzed-about NYC shows with Calla, Prefuse 73, and The Silversun Pickups, the group headed into the Boston studio of Andy Hong (kimchee records) to record the bulk of Trouble Everywhere. The welcomed addition of Amanda Garrett on vocals lent a rueful tone to the epic swirliness of album opener "To No One," while the intimacy of "Trouble Everywhere" and "Early Summer" combined with the buoyant melodic dream-pop of "For Now" and "Everybody in the Pool" showcase Daylight's for the Birds rare gift of matching stunning sonics to songs with an emotional palette as vast, joyful, fragile, and ultimately as beautiful as the world around us. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.