Album Review: Daylight - 'Dispirit'

Hold up, grab that pack of Kleenex and hide your bedside noose. Blunt your switchblade, empty the sleeping pills and dish those last few packs of rat poison you’ve got under your kitchen sink. Following the 2009 tear jerker that was ‘Sinking’, Pennsylvania’s saddest, Daylight have spawned a record that tumbles the innermost apathy of every teenager into a 7” snowball that is none other than their very own, ‘Dispirit’. Reminiscing the emo/punk roots earthed by forefathers, Small Brown Bike and The Gaslight Anthem, Daylight release three heart-pained tracks with the sole intentions of helping fans "at least consider jumping off their roof."

As with every good follow-up release, Daylight demonstrate a world of maturity and growth consistently throughout each song. These riffs have more depth. These song structures, more complexity. The cohesion of the band altogether throughout just offers an indescribable sense of greater unity. The emotion and apathy is not only conveyed through the poetry of Taylor Madison, it’s amplified through the chords that found the basis of his themes. Most importantly, it’s constant. ‘Youth No More’ displays the musical control of the band: when they want to be catchy, they’ll make the song catchy.

It’s refreshing to hear different elements used by bands to break up the standard nature of one’s style; whilst not the most sophisticated addition, the piano outro of ‘Selfish’ compliments the release and just simply makes sense. Vocal contrasts between Jacob Clarke and frontman Madison are a definite highlight of this record.  The tempo changes throughout testify to the ability of drummer John Bowes; the gradual slowing down in tracks ‘Two Of A Kind’ is both seemly and flawless, raising the emotion of this collection ten fold.

Read it for yourself, Daylight’s mission speaks on its own– ‘Dispirit’. Where passion spawns from experience, this band proves that to be personal is to be pure, the central essence of any successful musical piece. Whilst only three tracks in total, the latest 7” of Six Feet Under newcomers demonstrate a matured sound and a focused direction sharp enough to penetrate the feelings of any hardcore heavyweight. A keyhole into the minds and souls of Pennsylvania’s most miserable.

1. Selfish

2. Youth No More

3. Two Of A Kind