Rarely can a person sympathize with a musician just by glancing at an album’s tracklist, but here we are, feeling touched by song titles from Darksoft’s new album. “Rinse and Repeat.” “Same Ol Same Ol.” “No News Is Good News.” Been there, pal.
These are the types of sentiments that comprise Everydayness, the Portland, Maine artist’s eighth record. The LP arrived earlier this month (March 6) and was written and recorded by Darksoft in his home studio, where he captured “a sort of absent-minded everydayness” over the course of one year.
“It’s rooted in physical reality, it’s nothing new, it’s repetitive, it’s more of the same, and it’s super day-to-day,” Darksoft says of the album. “I literally got the name from a shampoo bottle.”
In that search for the unremarkable, Darksoft strikes cathartic gold, casting cliches and a quickly waning rise-and-grind attitude against a backdrop of glimmering dream-rock. It’s a validation of perpetual exhaustion and numbness, but also a trail of breadcrumbs towards a more mindful existence.
“The album opens with the lyric ‘how you spend your days is how you spend your life’ in the first track ‘Spend Your Days,’ which is a slight rephrase of an Annie Dillard quote,” he explains, referencing a line from Dillard’s book “The Writing Life.” “I’m attracted to being intentional with your time, perfecting your daily routine.”
But the strength of Everydayness is that it doesn’t preach. Instead, the album offers listeners whichever they need more: A heavy sigh, or a starting point for seeing their days differently.
“I hope Everydayness leaves the listener with more validation that your existence matters, even when you’re in autopilot mode at work or doing mundane household tasks,” Darksoft says. “I hope it can provide more agency for the things you can control in your life, and inspire you to shape your day-to-day into whatever you desire over time. At the same time, I don’t want my music to carry that much weight or be too heady or viewed as self-help. I hope people just like how it sounds.”
Tune in below, and head to Darksoft’s Everydayness release party at Residency Records in Salem this Saturday (March 21).