Checking In: Dayglow Is All Right

Sloan Struble’s full-length debut as Dayglow, 2019’s Fuzzy Brain, won the onetime UT student a very real – and large – online audience. They’re currently enjoying the Austinite’s engaging deconstructions of the LP’s upbeat pop payload on his “How I Made” series. Plenty of them also showed up in person for his infectious 2019 ACL Music Fest performance.

Dayglow last October at Stubb’s (Photo by David Brendan Hall)

Austin Chronicle: Where are you sheltering and under what circumstances? Who else is there and how’s that going?

Dayglow: I am currently at my home in Austin. I live sort of near Barton Springs, so I’ve been going on lots of walks and spending time outside. I have been writing a lot and feeling surprisingly productive creatively. I am doing well!!

AC: At what point did C-19 shut down operations for you, and what went down with the ship, so to speak, both personally & professionally?

D: Everything shut down on the first day of my spring tour. We were driving up from Austin to Chicago; we left completely optimistic and in the normal routine. On the ride up, I had to postpone everything. It was really a mind warp and pretty isolating at first. We would have been on the road for about three months in North America and Europe.

AC: As a global culture, people employ music for every purpose imaginable, obviously spanning religion to entertainment and everything in between. What happens to communities like ours when people can no longer access it in person?

D: It is definitely a really fascinating time to be an artist. The way people digest art these days is deeply personal. Music serves as a soundtrack to every moment of every day, and with social media and everything, being an artist is about a lot more than just “making art.”

I love performing and meeting people, and I definitely see that as my main reason and purpose for what I do. I think people are still very loyal in staying active as a supporter. Our culture seems to be used to living and doing things digitally anyways.

I think once everything opens up again in the near future though, live shows will be extra fun. People are way more awesome in person. :-)

AC: Everyone’s had to shift or drastically alter their work situation. What does that look like for you?

D: I was practically self-quarantining for a few months before my tour was supposed to happen. I was working on finishing as much of my record as I could before traveling, because I thought I was going to be gone for three months. My mind has just shifted to working on the record more, which has been a really good thing, I think.

I don't like when art feels rushed, but this record is definitely being carefully observed and created, which gets me stoked.

AC: What’s your soundtrack for the apocalypse and what role does music play for you as a fan and scholar of it in times of hardship?

D: I have been listening to a lot of Yacht Rock stuff. It just takes me to a simpler place. I’m trying to fill my mind with songs of hope.

Currently listening to a Loggins & Messina record as I write this, haha.

I’d say my theme of quarantine is Christopher Cross’ “All Right.” I highly encourage whoever is reading this to put some freaking headphones on and crank that baby up. It rocks.