Little Daylight

photos / Emily Malan

hair + makeup / Caroline Baribeau

stylist/ Amanda Toledo

story / Flore Beaulac

Their name is borrowed from the english tale which inspired Sleeping Beauty, written by George McDonald and published in 1871, Little Daylight is a band giving us offers us a fantasy pop, with a synthesizer as a main character.

Brooklyn lovers and the hipster-without-really-looking-for-it trio started by remixing bands such as Passion Pit and Ra Ra Riot before delivering their very own originals. Soon they were scouted by Capitol Records.
Their 2013 EP Tunnel Vision allowed the young band a fast take off with infectiously catchy songs like “Overdose” and “Restart”, which was featured in the HBO show GIRLS.
Nikki Taylor, Matt Lewkowicz and Eric Zeiler all agreed on what were the inspirations for their entirely self-produced upcoming album Hello Memory was,  “History, movies and books” says Nikki.
“More narrative themes books, chimes in Matt, “As well as photography and all kind of visual arts”.
It took 7 months for the trio to write the album, including 3 full months spent in the studio. “We`re all together in a room, sharing ideas, it can first comes from a chorus or a guitar riff. We then put everything together like a patchwork of ideas” Matt says on their writing process.
A total collaboration paradigm exists within the group, the three different characters have with their own experiences yet seem to relate to things in a very similar way. “All of our songs were also inspired by our personal love stories. They relate to specific events or places, we are all songs writers and we mix our different experiences as well as friends situations and it fits together.” Nikki says.
“We meet so many new people and create new relations in all the cities we are going to, we meet a lot of inspiring musicians,” Matt adds with enthusiasuam.

Their passion for music and people comes through in every aspect of their dance heavy beats and videos full of eccentric characters. When I ask them what genre of music they would date if they could date a sound there is a universally laugh and no hesitation to answer, if any band will get this question they will. Eric says, “If I could date a band’s music it would be DARKSIDE (electronic experimental duo from Brooklyn). Nikki would date dance music while Matt would hang out with Jam. The diversity in the group and their ability to make different tastes work together certainly contributes to their raising success and unparalleled sound.

When the subject of destiny comes up, Nikki says she believes in “a combination of free will and destiny.” Her becoming a musician had nothing to do with destiny in her opinion though, “I did not think I was going to be a musician, it just happened naturally as my parents were already involved in music”. Matt and Eric  are a little less opinionated or “agnostic” as Matt said. They don’ t believe in destiny,  “We rely on Nikki for that,” adds Eric.
When I asked if they believed in love at first sight, the roles reversed. “No,” reacted Nikki right away, “My boyfriend and I were just friends for a while when suddenly, one day, love infiltrated. We were cooking one day and it became an evident that we were in love.”
“I’ ve never had it but I do believe it can happen” says Eric.
Matt says sheepishly, “I believe in it, but I also think that it needs to grow over time. Boys are definitely the romantics in our band.”
On cities they say New York is the best. “New York is our favorite city, says Matt, you constantly get inspired as long as you keep your eyes open. We live in Greenpoint in an artist space, we are surrounded by creativity, and spend all our time with other musicians, artists. We often have kitchen talks with them. They are everywhere here, in the streets, on the subway…Matt and I spent a little bit of time in Berlin and got really inspired by the electronic scene there, but New York City stays the one.”
Nikki cuts in, “We spent as much time as possible in Brooklyn, we almost never go to Manhattan anymore. We love the food culture there, and cooking is one of our main hobby”
“And movies!” enters Matt.
The way they interact with each other is like hanging out with a fun family. there is so much energy and love in their communication I can understand why their music sounds so cohesive and beautiful. After their second year at SXSW they’ re on tour in the South for a few more weeks. Nikki says, “We have amazing friends and families who are very supportive, and we manage to keep contact even if we are on the road.”
I ask them if they were considering themselves as part of this new pop movement including chart exploding artists like Charli XCX, The Neighborhood and Bastille, all bands which they have already opened for,“We are indeed much part of it, answered Matt. We wrote our songs without caring, but the same ideas came in a short period of time and made it one movement. People like to classify these bands in a similar cultural phenomenon and there definitely a movement going on.”
The movement is happening and with the likes of Little Daylight on the scene it doesn’t look like it’s ready to stop.

MORE:

www.littledaylight.com

www.facebook.com/littledaylightsounds

www.twitter.com/littledaylight