Dayglow Return to St. Louis
St. Louis, MO | T. ROTH | October 25th, 2021
Dayglow return to the STL music scene this weekend October 29th, 2021 at Delmar Hall in support of their Harmony House Tour. After a successful release of their debut album Fuzzybrain the band released their second full length album Harmony House earlier this year. Sloan Struble foundinf and only member. Tickets are still on sale at ticketmaster.com and at The Pageant Box Office.
ABOUT THE ARTIST// Struble was born and raised in Texas, and wrote the first song he recorded for Harmony House, “Medicine,” while still in his dorm room. After Fuzzybrain, which he wrote mostly on guitar, he decided to write for piano. At 21, he’s now out of school, but as he did on his debut, he writes, produces, records, and mixes all of his music himself—in his bedroom, no less. “I tried to compose these songs in a way that you could just sit down at a piano and play them,” he explains. “That’s the sign of a good song, when it can live on its own musically.” That sort of sturdiness he strives for in his writing makes for timeless music, a quality Harmony House exudes. Even when he’s writing about the sometimes overwhelming experience of contemporary life as it’s lived both digitally and IRL, as he does on the opener “Something,” the melodies are welcoming. In fact, there’s a recurring melody introduced on that first track that appears on every subsequent song. You might not catch it on the first listen, but it’s there anyway, like a gentle hand on your shoulder.
Beyond reassurance, the album also encourages you to get up and dance with its single “Close to You,” Dayglow’s first single in over a year and the gateway to Harmony House. Indebted to ‘80s anthems about shy feelings of love, like Whitney Houston’s immortal “How Will I Know,” “Close to You” is like a duet between Struble and his feelings of self-doubt. But the synth’s propel him forward (and you to the dance floor).
Harmony House is a finely calibrated, carefully fussed over expression of encouragement for anyone who needs it. The album ends with “Like Ivy,” a mellow return to the melodic theme introduced on the opening track that describes “growing up like ivy” and the mysterious passage of time. Struble’s boyish and gentle tenor explores its upper limits as he sings the big idea of Harmony House: “I’m learning to grow.” It’s a lesson that never ends.