If you've heard TEEN DAZE before, the basic elements of ‘Brooklyn Sunburn’ will be familiar. Sun-glazed synth chords and wordless crooning are punctuated by pumping electronic kick-snare patterns – it’s a soundtrack to daytime dance parties in the dunes.
What’s exciting about ‘Brooklyn Sunburn’ is it’s the first single from a forthcoming debut album. Having turned in redefining remixes of chillwave icons like WASHED OUT and SUN GLITTERS, All of Us Together gives TEEN DAZE a shot at becoming a chillwave icon himself.
The package is all there. Band name evoking adolescent holidays? Check. Beach-bleached cover art? Check. Single title that references the sun? Check.
And that might be the problem. Despite an enjoyable blissed-out coda, ‘Brooklyn Sunburn’ is so steeped in the chillwave aesthetic that it struggles to find an identity of its own. There are only so many different combinations of “sun”, “warm”, “beach”, “haze”, and “dreamy” you can use before you run out of things to talk about.
TEEN DAZE have shown before that there are other elements to their sound (type ‘teen daze remix’ into YouTube to see more, seriously). Hopefully ‘Brooklyn Sunburn’ is the bait to lure chillwave tragics to a broader sonic horizon.
Words by Matt Nielson.
