My first impression of the "Morning World" single by Teen Daze is that it's definitely a more "traditional" Indie Pop track. If there is such a thing. Teen Daze or Jamison (that's it, no last name given), has been praised for his atmospheric, electronic soundscapes and I think it's a great direction he's decided to move into.
So often artists get pigeon holed into genres that could be seen as fads. For instance, Washed Out aka Ernest Greene is widely considered to be one of the progenitors of the Chill Wave genre. A scene that has been criticized for being a momentary blip in musical genre. Greene originally worked mostly with sample-based arrangements which he eventually found to be limiting when played live. He then went on to transform that frustration into the album Paracosm, which was recorded and performed in a more traditional fashion with noted success from fans & critics.
There's this elitist attitude against artists who use laptops and software to produce and perform their work and I feel like there's a type of legitimacy that people find in more analog or established means of creation. I think that's perhaps a component in the reasoning Jamison took in recording this album. Which has been stated to be recorded at the "all-analog" Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco. Teen Daze has been seen in the past utilizing a laptop & MIDI controllers (namely the Akai APC40) to perform his music.
Conversely, this type of transition isn't always welcomed by fans who have enjoyed the accustomed sound of their favorite bands. Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' or 'RAM' immediately comes to mind. Known for being a flagship act for the French House or French Touch genre, Daft Punk's previous albums used predominantly electronic & digital equipment to sample and mix their music. RAM on the other hand, was an homage to music production of the 60's & 70's. Even going so far as to use Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, who also produced numerous albums notably of the 70's & 80's eras on three of the albums tracks. The album was instantly polarizing to fans. Some really liked it, while others filled YouTube comment sections with their extreme distain for it.
Only time will tell if fans of Teen Daze will gravitate towards the album with open arms or openly express their dissatisfaction with the work. My guess is it'll be a bit of both. For what it's worth, the music of "Morning World" is of a high quality and in my opinion still in line with Jamison's previous work.
"Morning World" will be released by Paper Bag Records on August 14th.
You can watch a trailer for the album here and listen to the titular track here.
You can also pre-order the album here.
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