Acclaimed duo Brooklyn-based indie CLAVVS — Amber Renee and Graham Marsh — can trace their origins back to a chance meeting after they both separately decided at the last minute to attend a random house party.
Renee’s background is in Americana. Marsh cut his teeth working on Grammy-winning hits by Bruno Mars and Gnarls Barkley. But with CLAVVS the pair weave together the organic and synthetic in a way that brings comparisons to Sylvan Esso and Maggie Rogers — but with a glossier, mainstream sheen. And as a result, the pair has landed placements on MTV, PBS, a number of tastemaking playlists and played in stores like Urban Outfitters.
The duo are also behind the rising indie pop project dayaway. Renee is a water sign — and naturally she has an obsession with the ocean. Fittingly, the project was conceived over countless summer afternoons at Rockaway Beach. The songs she writes for dayaway frequently tell stories about love and loss, detailing heartbreak in summertime snapshots paired with hazy dream pop/New Wave-inspired soundscapes.
Last year’s self-titled dayaway debut EP was released to critical applause from the likes of Under the Radar and Earmilk. EP single “cool water” amassed millions of streams across the digital streaming platforms while landing on Spotify’s New Music Friday, Good Vibes and Golden Hour playlists among others. Follow up singles “beach 90th” and “desert island” landed on Apple Music’s New in Indie and Spotify’s Surf Rock Sunshine playlist. Material from the EP were also featured on Netflix’s Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between, and ABC’s A Million Little Things.
The duo’s latest single “hot blue summer” is a breezy and summery bop rooted in Renee’s achingly tender and ethereal delivery paired with buzzing and reverb-drenched guitars, bubbling electronics, twinkling keys and a razor sharp hook. The song evokes the blissful buzz of summer afternoons at the beach — but the uptempo poppiness of the song is a bit deceptive: The song actually acknowledges that despite the hopes and playfulness of summer and summer love, heartbreak is always around the corner.
dayaway’s self-titled debut EP arrived in 2022 to immediate fanfare. The band’s first single “cool water” amassed millions of streams across platforms, landing in Spotify’s New Music Friday, Good Vibes and Golden Hour playlists, among others. Follow up singles “beach 90th” and “desert island” found a home in playlists like Apple’s New in Indie and Spotify’s Surf Rock Sunshine. The band received glowing reviews from tastemaker blogs like Under the Radar and EARMILK. Meanwhile, songs from the EP were featured in Netflix’s Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between, ABC’s A Million Little Things, and Apple’s Memories Campaign, leading to lots of attention for the brand new, somewhat secretive band.