Pajama Day is a Washington, D.C. based math rock duo. Deriving influences from contemporary bands like Chon and Standards, Pajama Day exudes a musical ethos consisting of a balance between instrumental intricacy and unforgettable hooks. Their music is uplifting and punchy with a tinge of bittersweet longing expressed through unpredictable grooves and unique song forms. The band’s self-titled EP Pajama Day was recorded, mixed and mastered in the Kreeger Studio at American University. The five-song recording was produced solely by band members Knox Engler and Andrew Altshuler. The bands states that their debut is very special to them as they were the sole creators and contributors involved in every single step of the process. In a word, they did everything. The EP is tied together by an overarching plant theme- all tracks are named after some of the duo’s favorite plant species – namely wisteria, alyssum, kudzu, chia and sarcennia. The music in many ways represents Pajama Day’s connection to the natural world. This connection is sacred and often unspoken, resulting in a largely instrumental recording.
“Wisteria” gets things rolling with fast acting finger action on the guitar and a tight rhythm section. The band’s style is straight up progressive, and the song is all instrumental – in fact, all of them are instrumentals. The opener has a fun energy to it with moments of lightness of flavors of pop punk. “Alyssum” feels more complicated, at least with the fingering on the guitars. I think this tune was even faster than the first track! But the best part is when the band gets a little funky on the solo break, where they add a keyboard. That part reminded me just a bit of the Edgar Winter Group – another fun song all around. “Kudzu” begins with some psychedelic sounds on the guitar and a lighter, sophisticated progressive style. There are also moments of bell sounds, which I assume are coming from synths and by the way, there is plenty of that on this track. Overall, there are a lot of twists, turns and arrangements present here, and some great melodies, too. Next up is “Chia” and once again, a lot of fast, tight guitar and bass/drum action. I like the break the band did here, with the echoing guitar solo and then coming together to finish out the rest of the song. Pajama Day’s last track is called “Sarcennia” and this one seems to have an edgier, prog-rock style. There’s a lot of finger-tapping on the guitar here. And as with most tracks on this EP, it’s fast and tight. This band has got some fantastic chemistry when it comes to this style of music. The band ends this track with reversing the music, in other words, mixing the track so the instruments sound like they are being played backwards. This was a nice surprise at the end, but I kind of wish they would have let the song run out a little longer instead of abruptly ending it so soon. Overall, this was one of the shortest EPs I’ve ever reviewed (each song being under three minutes long) but isn’t that the nature of the pop punk format? On top of that, this D.C. duo effortlessly has the math rock/prog rock genres down, no question. The blending of all these genres and the tight playing Pajama Day does on their debut, should have any prog rock fan wanting more.
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