When Montreal-based electro pop artists Tess Roby, Adam Ohr and Patrick Lee hung out together for the first time back in late 2018, they had no intention of starting a band together. The trio initially gathered at Lee’s Mile End studio with no expectations — but with a mutual admiration of each other’s work.
Interestingly enough, as the story goes, they stated playing and almost immediately felt a deep, musical kinship. Over the next few months, the trio became close friends, while finding themselves inspired again in a way that they’d all been long seeking.
Songs came flowing out of those informal sessions, with the trio writing and producing material communally, and in circadian rhythm. They released their first singles as Dawn to Dawn, “Meridian,” “A Colour Named By You” and “Care” between 2020 and 2021. Each of those singles found the trio quickly establishing a sound that has been described as sitting halfway between spectral dream pop and abstract dance-oriented soundscapes.
The band’s full-length debut, the nine-song, Postcards From The Sun To The Moon is slated for an October 6, 2022 release through Roby’s label SSURROUNDSS. The album reportedly features all-enveloping music that could only be made by musicians, who have complete trust in one another: Roby would write off-the-cuff lyrics in the room during their jam sessions. Then Ohr and Lee would take these versions and edit them, experimenting with processing, before bringing tracks back to listen together — and then distill into their final forms. Mixed by fellow Montreal artists Patrick Holland and Pierre Guerineau and featuring impressionistic album art by Hugo Bernier, the album is meant to enjoyed with — or without — a fixed destination in mind.
Postcards From The Sun To The Moon‘s first single, “Stereo” is an infectious and coquettish bop centered around glistening and atmospheric synths and thumping 909s paired with Roby’s ethereal and plaintive vocals. While being a summery and breezy bit of dance friendly pop, the song is rooted in nostalgia for carefree, sweltering summer nights.
“This song captures the sound of summer: sweltering nights, afterparties and playful romance. It was written deep in the 2020 winter lockdown, as we imagined the parties of summer’s past,” the Montreal-based trio explain. “A breaky, forward moving 909 beat carries airy synths that glide beneath Tess’ airy vocals. Weightless and captivating, Stereo is an anthem for years to come.”
Directed by Tess Roby and shot by Hugo Bernier and the members of Dawn to Dawn, the accompanying video for “Stereo” begins with following the trio as they walk through what appears to be Mont Royal Park to view the sunset over downtown Montreal, then to a local arcade, hangouts at bars with pals, stops at bodegas (well, the Montreal version of a bodega) to get booze, water and what not before heading to a late night after party. Throughout the entire video, there’s a playful and carefree air that’s only possible during the summer.
