Daysormay: From isolation to Just Existing

The French word désormais means from now on. Okanagan trio daysormay wants listeners to be tuning into its contemporary pop tunes from now on too.

Aidan Andrews, who handles lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and — that most rock of instruments, the ukulele — and sibling rhythm section of bassist/vocalist/trumpeter Nolan and drummer/percussionist Carson Bassett certainly all agree that the last two years of unavoidable limitations has proven valuable to the group’s sound.

“We put out an EP in 2016, but we really hadn’t found our sound until Aidan showed us an early version of what became the song Ego in 2018,” said Nolan Bassett. “That was when we really hit on what we all knew was going to be the direction that we should be headed in. COVID sort of forced us to focus in on the craft.”

While that earlier EP is something the band sees as a part of its history, Just Existing is a new beginning. Andrews calls the five-year period between recordings one of “total agony” as the band worked on redefining itself and its music. From the change in the songwriting to a much more lush and harmony-laden sound with clear U.K. pop influences to the visual presentation in the videos for the singles, this crew now appears to be completely dialed-in.

“We are the video producers, most of the time, because that was the necessity when we started,” said Andrews. “I’ve always been drawn to it as a very cool way to present the music, and now that we’ve been doing it, it will be a hard thing to let go. We do work now with a few other friends, but it’s really something we stay very involved with.”

This hands-on approach is working too.

The video for Ego is at 171,000 YouTube views and all of the other tracks are steadily rising. Playlist adds range from Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Alternative charts in the U.S. to Apple Music’s New in Rock U.K. and Ireland programs, as well as CBC, Spotify and other platforms. That’s a blessing as the only gig the group had lined up to launch the album was cancelled. They all laugh about the way the pandemic has performers all surfing a seemingly endless wave of excitement that inevitably crashes onto shores of disappointment.