Tag: Gray Days Going Nowhere

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Gray Days Shares A Crafted Pop Anthem

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and records all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material. 

Last year, the JOVM mainstay released his full-length debut Drifting, which featured:

  • The Husky and Starsailor-like Going Nowhere,” which featured an anthemic Brit Pop inspired hook while revealing a songwriter with a deliberate attention to craftsmanship and an uncanny knack for a big, catchy hook. 

  • “Transcend,” a dreamy 120 Minutes MTV-like track centered around shimmering and twangy guitars, a sinuous bass line, the Aussie artist’s plaintive delivery, a big hook and a wah wah pedaled solo, that sounds as though it were inspired by Starfish era The Church.

  • The Cocteau Twins meets Starfish-era The Church-like “Limelight,” a song built around layers of shimmering and jangling guitars, bursts of mournful horns, the Aussie artist’s plaintive vocal paired with a soaring hook making it arguably the most dream pop leaning — and the most beautiful song on the entire album. 

The Aussie artist’s latest single “Melon Mouth” is a crafted bit of dreamy pop built around jangling guitars, an incredibly catchy hook and a tight driving groove paired with the JOVM mainstay’s plaintive vocals. “Melon Mouth” continues a relatively recent run of pop-leaning material rooted in thoughtful lyricism.

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and records all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material. 

The Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released his full-length debut Drifting earlier this year. The album featured three single that I managed to write about over the course of the year:

  • Going Nowhere,” an anthemic Brit Pop-inspired song that revealed a songwriter with a deliberate attention to craftsmanship and an uncanny knack for a big, catchy hook. 
  • “Transcend,” a dreamy 120 Minutes MTV-like track centered around shimmering and twangy guitars, a sinuous bass line, the Aussie artist’s plaintive delivery, a big hook and a wah wah pedaled solo, that sounded as though it were inspired by Starfish era The Church.
  • “Limelight,” a song centered around layers of shimmering guitar jangle, mournful horns and a soaring hook that may be the most dream pop leaning of the Aussie artist’s catalog to date.

The JOVM mainstay closes out 2022 with “Chasing,” a standalone single and first bit of new material since the release of Drifting. Featuring strummed guitar, reverb-drenched, electric guitar jangle, a propulsive rhythm section paired with earnest, seemingly lived-in lyricism and rousingly anthemic hooks, “Chasing” continues a remarkable run of material inspired by Starsailor-like Brit Pop and Dishwalla-like alt rock.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Gray Days Shares Gorgeous “Limelight”

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and records all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about two singles off the Aussie artist’s full-length debut Drifting:

  • The Husky and Starsailor-like Going Nowhere,” which featured an anthemic Brit Pop inspired hook while revealing a songwriter with a deliberate attention to craftsmanship and an uncanny knack for a big, catchy hook.
  • “Transcend,” a dreamy 120 Minutes MTV-like track centered around shimmering and twangy guitars, a sinuous bass line, the Aussie artist’s plaintive delivery, a big hook and a wah wah pedaled solo, that sounds as though it were inspired by Starfish era The Church.

Drifting‘s latest single, the dreamy, Cocteau Twins meets Starfish-era The Church-like “Limelight” is centered around layers of shimmering and jangling guitars, bursts of mournful horns, the Aussie artist’s plaintive vocal paired with a soaring hook. “Limelight” may arguably be the most dream pop leaning — and the most beautiful song on the entire album.

The accompanying visual features a mix of edited footage, stock footage and graphics in a trippy yet DIY fashion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Aussie Artist Gray Days Shares a Trippy Visual for Glistening “Transcend”

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and records all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material. 

Last week, I wrote about “Going Nowhere,” a song that sonically brought JOVM mainstay act Husky and Starsailor to mind, complete with an anthemic Brit Pop-like hook. But underneath all of that, “Going Nowhere” revealed a songwriter with a deliberate attention to craftsmanship and an uncanny knack for a big, catchy hook.

Released late last year, “Transcend” is a dreamy, 120 Minutes MTV-like track centered around shimmering and twangy guitars, a sinuous bass line, the Aussie artist’s plaintive delivery, a big hook and a wah wah pedaled solo, that sounds as though it were inspired by Starfish era The Church.

The accompanying visual features some trippy and fittingly psychedelic imagery.

Both “Going Nowhere” and “Transcend” will appear on Gray Days full-length debut, Drifting, which is slated for release tomorrow.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging Aussie Artist Gray Days Shares a Heady Visual for Anthemic “Going Nowhere”

Gray Days is the (mostly) solo recording project of a rather mysterious Aussie singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who writes and recordings all the parts of his music — with the exception of drums and tricky lead guitar parts. He makes his music in his garage and then takes it to a friend’s studio, where that friend engineers and mixes the material.

Released a few weeks ago “Going Nowhere” sees the emerging Aussie artist pairing shimmering and reverb drenched guitars, a steady backbeat and a plaintive vocal delivery with an enormous, anthemic Brit Pop hook. And while sonically recalling Aussie JOVM mainstay act Husky and Starsailor, “Going Nowhere” not only reveals a deliberate attention to craftsmanship — but a songwriter with an uncanny knack for writing an infectious hook.

The accompanying visual for “Going Nowhere” is a heady mix of cinematic, live action footage of every day people — a young couple madly in love, a commuter train in the rain and of people seemingly starting anew in their lives with animation and other effects.