Pre-order of Some Days. You get 1 track now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
JayWood is the pseudonymous indie-alternative project of Jeremy Haywood-Smith from Winnipeg Manitoba. What started as a bedroom recording project of sad jangle-pop songs, evolved into the psych-funk approach present on JayWood’s latest effort, Some Days - his debut release on Captured Tracks.
Written and originally recorded in 2015, the EP Some Days was born of a time of compounding transitions in Haywood-Smith’s life. The end of a long-term relationship, a shift in social circles, and an impending move found Haywood-Smith grappling with self-identity. It also presented the rare moment of a fresh start. Taking cues from his favorite DIY artists, he channeled his anxieties into songwriting, trying his hand at self-recording using just a guitar, a midi-controller, and a borrowed MacBook. “I had to write the EP and learn how to record at the same time, which you can definitely hear in the original recordings. The songs were kinda messy, but I just went with the first ideas that came to mind. I made a rule for myself not to go back on anything, because I didn't have the time to tweak around.”
Ultimately deciding to re-record the tracks years later, HayWood-Smith had the opportunity to reminisce on the past, while staying firmly rooted in the present. It was a process of life imitating art as “Some Days” is “about feeling that push/pull of moving forward versus staying comfortable” and “What You Do To Me” confronts the familiar, seemingly endless cycle of depression. JayWood’s catchy pop hooks combine with jazz chords and a psychedelic approach on “Creeps”, his “angsty break-up song”, and a striking juxtaposition to “Dreams” which finds Haywood-Smith ruminating on the idea of a picture perfect relationship set to swelling, ethereal strings.
With a flair for channeling the past into immediate, feel-good music, JayWood is certainly one to watch.
credits
releases April 23, 2021
Some Days:
Jeremy Haywood-Smith - Guitar/Bass/Vocals/Synth
Ben Stokes - Drums
Adam Fuhr - Synth
Creeps:
Jeremy Haywood-Smith - Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Ben Stokes - Drums
Adam Fuhr - Synth
Dreams:
Jeremy Haywood-Smith - Guitar/Synth/Vocals
Adam Fuhr - Synth
Jensen Fridfinnson - Strings
What You Do To Me:
Jeremy Haywood-Smith - Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Ben Stokes - Drums
Vero Rey - Back up Vocals
Adam Fuhr - Synth
Some Days (Acoustic):
Jeremy Haywood Smith - Guitar/Vocals
Recorded at House Of Wonders
Engineer - Adam Fuhr
Mixed - Collector Studios (Arthur Antony & Will Grierson)
Mastered - Greymarket Mastering (Ryan Morey)
Photography - Carly Boomer
What started as
bedroom "sad jangle pop songs" just singing about how sad or miserable he was, things slowly started to change as time went into the more "psych funk" sound that is shown today!...more
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