It took The Lagoons five years and a “wild journey” to bring their debut album, 2020’s Midnight Afternoon, into the world, but now the Los Angeles indie pop duo seems to be gliding on that momentum. This year, they’ve already shared the breezy, keys-driven “Snowy Mountain” and the slinking, washed-out “Sedated.” Now they’re back with another single called “Daybreak,” and it finds the pair veering further into the hazy, dreamlike sound they’ve been honing since their early days.
But with “Daybreak,” brothers Ryan and Joey Selan have fully ditched the jazzy saxophone flourishes of their breakout single “California” for ambient guitar, bobbing basslines, and shimmering synths. The final product is a post-pandemic surf-pop meditation. “We wrote ‘Daybreak’ during the pandemic wondering what life is going to be like when it eventually goes back to normal,” Ryan and Joey share. “We asked ourselves what it is going to be like putting yourself out there, rekindling relationships, and creating new connections. Ultimately, this song is about being vulnerable and putting yourself out there with hope that the feeling will be reciprocated.”
“Daybreak” has a melancholy edge, but overall it’s warm and soft and faded like film grain. Given Ryan and Joey’s affinity for the Golden State, it’s not a huge surprise that they started writing the song while driving home from an out-of-state adventure. “The idea for the lyrics,” they recall, “came to us while road tripping from Texas to California and staring out at the sunset during a surreal moment that gave us a sense of wonder of what’s to come.”
You can picture that scene and hear that sense of wonder in “Daybreak”—check it out below before it officially drops tomorrow.
