With enough swirling guitar feedback to satisfy a Jesus & Mary Chain fan and ample sharp hooks and sweet melodies to seduce a Teenage Fanclub devotee, the Richmond, VA-based Dazy is a perfect mix of shoegaze and power pop on his first formal debut.
On the 12-track OUTOFBODY—a much more manageable follow up to MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD: The First 24 Songs, a collection of songs released last year—the band (well, technically just one guy, James Goodson) delivers a pitch perfect throwback to ‘90s college rock without sounding dated in the slightest. The record kicks off with the distortion soaked “Out Of Body,” an addictively fun track that sounds like Bob Mould’s heavy pop band Sugar. The song serves as a solid prelude of what follows: loud, sometimes abrasive guitars paired with Goodson’s impressively, melodious vocals. Although it’s tough to pick favorites, songs like the near-perfect “On My Way” and the more mellow “Rollercoaster” are clear standouts on a decidedly impressive record.
“A lot of Dazy has been about pushing myself out of my comfort zones, and at first that just meant finally putting out new music at all,” Goodson says. “I’ve always played in bands and made music, but before Dazy, I’d been sort of stuck for a while. I never stopped writing songs, but I wasn’t sure what to do with them, and they were piling up on my computer for years.”
While MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD had some solid tracks, OUTOFGBODY feels much more like a proper record and serves as the perfect intro into the world.
