Reviewed by Phil Taylor (see his Music Observer blog here)
Release date 11/10/24
As autumn deepens, it can be lovely to lean into it and embrace the cosiness, and whatever variety of hot drink you prefer. But, sometimes, summer just can’t be forgotten and the instinct is to hold on tight to anything that reminds you of warmer, lighter days. Florida is one of those precious things, a breezy track that its creators, Dayflower, describe as “indebted both to contemporary dream pop and Fleetwood-esque soft rock.”
It’s an incredibly carefully made song, too; each note, each word, each beat is placed accurately and crisply, and the resulting track has been produced with beautiful balance. Mostly recorded and produced DIY (other than the drum engineering/production, and the mastering), this easily rivals much more expensive studio work.
From light beginnings, led by an acoustic guitar and a shuffly snare drum, the song progresses with firm intent. You can sense the band have their eyes fixed on a common goal and are making their way there with unerring focus. But it’s not a robotic progression: there’s heaps of character. You can find that from the choice of instrumentation (listen out for the e-bow and the beautifully delicate Fender Rhodes piano sound) to the subtle reverb added in just the right places, and the male/female harmonies. You’ll need and want to listen to this closely and more than once.
The lyrics are softly poetic, with a good balance of clear imagery (“Telling stories of beaches / Football in the dark”) and more subtle allusion (“Summer burning / Lost in highways in the void”), creating a startlingly emotive effect. This is America and wide open spaces; road trips; blissfully painful nostalgia; but anchored in something close to the heart.
During the last minute, there’s a notable increase in intensity and a feeling of determination, as vocalist Alex Clemence tells, or maybe persuades, himself: “I’m alright, I’m OK about it”
As a band, Dayflower are fascinating, as they often appear in different forms. Started as a bedroom project by Alex and David Dhonau, the group has morphed and changed, with various incarnations of the band appearing live and a slightly different line-up on the Florida recording. Despite this, Florida is absolutely coherent, high quality, and inherently beautiful.
Dayflower are (on Florida): Alex Clemence (vocals, guitar), David Dhonau (guitars, bass, e-bow), Chris Merriman (electric guitar), Euan Roger (drums, percussion), Martha Bean (vocals) and Francis O’Donnell-Smith (Fender Rhodes). The band curate Leicester’s Candy Dust gig night and are well known on the live circuit.
You can find them on Linktree here.