Published on Mar 17, 2019
The Day are the dream-pop duo of Laura Loeters of the Netherlands, and Hamburg, Germany's Gregor Sonnenberg, who first met as students many years ago. Together the European pair take the lo-fi route on this debut album of humble, melancholic sounds that range from sparse to anthemic and occasionally even ambient.
The album leads with the crisp percussion and warm guitars of “Island,” while Loeters' sweet vocals sweep in for an ultra-dreamy tune with layered vocals. “Where The Wild Things Are” follows with a darker angle, with plenty of intricate musicianship while “Grow” brings strong New Wave ideas with upbeat and playful synth.
Near the middle we are treated to some faint post-punk influences on the cautious “Yet To Come,” which move fluidly into the restrained and timeless melodica of “Exit Sign.” “We Killed Our Hearts” might be the most pop-friendly tune on the album, and could surely bring the two mainstream success with its infectious quality.
Some of the best tunes reside near the end, especially the seven minutes of the soaring, atmospheric, post-rock-influenced “Berlin” that flows with cascading beauty, ebbs of twinkling moments and a general feeling of '80s nostalgia and is easily worth the price of admission by itself. The lush, charming and wispy “Illuminate” and the calming, meditative instrumental “Folded Paper Planes” end the listen on a strong note, bringing even more variety to a very eclectic experience.
Somewhere between indie-pop, shoegaze and jangly pop, Midnight Parade is a stunning affair with meticulous textures, top notch songwriting and a memorableness that sits well alongside Explosions In The Sky, My Bloody Valentine or even Beach House. A band with a luminous future ahead of them, The Day have two EPs available, too, and if this album is any indication, those will also warrant repeated listens.