reviews
From its epic opening chords to its ten-story chorus to its grinding outro, ‘Badlands’ is all controlled thunder, with guitarist Keith Ehrlich and drummer Bill Kovalcik churning U2-style drama but exhibiting admirable restraint. Holloway is blessed with an enormous voice that suggests the Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom without the blues grounding, but she never sounds big for big’s sake. In fact, she’s most expressive when she’s projecting. As a result, ‘Badlands’ sounds large yet measured, as if the band is simultaneously giving everything and holding back.
Singer Kali Holloway has a voice that simply drags you in off the street; a dark, beautiful, reverb-heavy, note-perfect holler, and a physical presence that has her audience spellbound. With shuddering, feedback-enriched riffs, tumultuous drums and fuzzy, forbidding atmospherics to back her up, Day For Night are certainly ones to watch.
When Kali Holloway isn’t busy singing for NYC’s The Affair, posing in Vice or kicking hipster ass, she can be found lending her sultry vocal prowess to Day for Night. Their debut EP begins with the dark and moody ‘Silver Beach,’ a powerhouse of pulsing rhythms, washed-out guitars and Holloway’s beautifully strong vocals. But it’s the winding feedback and soaring melodies of ‘Badlands’ that blend the best of early-’90s shoegazing with post-punk-tinged vocals reminiscent of a young Debbie Harry.
Choosing the influences of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, all fronted by a powerful and jazz influenced lead vocalist, this three song EP finds the band stepping confidently forward.
… songs that fuse emotion, energy, sound seamlessly; depending on your mood you may like one song best one day, and another the next … Day for Night manage to create something completely unique.
Kali Holloway … has the kind of voice that can stick with you for days.
Kali Holloway’s deep, striking vocals give local outfit Day For Night a serious edge over its brooding-postpunk peers.
Day for Night are a trio from NYC—guitar, drums, voice—that play tight, pensive dream-rock (note ‘rock’ rather than ‘pop’) wherein each element has a clear purpose and is of equal importance. The relationship between the instruments isn’t exactly traditional: the guitar … acts as the anchor for the songs, the six-strings drop-tuned for a deeper sound, bass-like. The drums … provide a surprisingly emotional focus… . And the vocals float in between the two other parts, in certain sections emerging from the wooshy jangle to punctuate, in others disappearing into the swirl, sounding more like some ethereal keyboard preset than a human voice.
The tracks flow and rumble, like the soundtrack for a night on the town with a rain storm building up slowly in the distance.
Day For Night, a three-piece from New York, is just what I’m looking for, an aggressive shake out of the spell of lethargic, grey-skyed afternoons… . At only three songs, their self-titled EP registers more of an impression than you’d expect, delivering just as much muscle and velocity with later listens and capturing a lot of the energy and fire of a live performance.
An explosive 3 track self-titled EP that will instantly grab your attention.