Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, the alternative 4-piece Homeless in Hawaii releases a contagious and incredibly unique single titled, "Darker Days." Homeless in Hawaii mentioned that "Darker Days" is the first single on their upcoming album 'The Fear of Missing Out.' Tanner Cyr, Devin Taylor, Leonard Menon, and Layne Murdoch have been tediously developing their forthcoming album and framing it with easily relatable concepts.
Speaking on their recent single "Darker Days," Homeless in Hawaii decided to fill this track with the rollercoaster emotions that overcome us, while evening it out with the dynamic and unpredictable alternative beat. The track is truly unlike anything we've heard before, especially within the intricate and textured instrumentals. "Darker Days" opens with an upbeat and pulsing kick accompanied by a radiant bassline. Once the vocals kick in, we're met with lyrics that explain the downs of life while emphasizing the ups and the positive side. As the instrumentals grow with groovy percussion, subtle keys, and layered vocals in harmony, we're incredibly impressed with the detailed atmosphere Homeless in Hawaii has provided. There are multiple breakdowns where the beat falls into a deep kick alongside layered vocals, truly adding different levels and depths to the track. Not to mention the fiery addition of whaling electric guitar, Homeless in Hawaii perfectly displays ever-changing human emotions through intricate sonics. Homeless in Hawaii's single "Darker Days" reminds us of the value life holds, and that the "Darker Days" will soon be bright again.
Discover "Darker Days" here.
What pulled Homeless in Hawaii to create "Darker Days," a deep and meaningful song about the rollercoaster of life?
Darker Days came towards the finishing stages of writing our coming album. So, in many ways, it’s a by-product of our collective experiences during that time as musicians and hopeful nobodies with lofty ambitions. We’ve sought to bring a healthy outlook on the world around us, as crazy as it’s been getting. It’s easy to get caught up in the darker side of life. We specifically want to emphasize that life is a unique and powerful experience. While dark days can come out of nowhere sometimes, it’s those days that often promote our gratitude for our brightest days. We believe that was an important message to bring forth and it ended up tying together some delicate and very important thematic threads within the grander story we’re aiming to tell with our full concept album of FOMO.
The instrumentals within "Darker Days" are incredibly unique and very wide-ranging. What did you initially want to bring to the table in terms of the sonics/atmosphere within the single?
Darker Days received its unique sonic palette through our intense desire to approach a rock, or pop-rock, track with a modern production heavily inspired by the recent amazing work of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. We fell in love with the idea of bringing those intimate layered vocals over top of a bass line and simple groove into genres that could use some new experimenting. The song gradually blossoms into its more natural rock roots by its end where it’s inspirations then pull from iconic groups like Queen and Muse. Our recording approach was very simple outside of the bass, guitar, and vocals. The percussion is all comprised of tracking us each playing a beat on our laps, the keyboard, shakers, a tiny bongo, etc.
We've heard that "Darker Days" will be the intro track to your upcoming album "The Fear of Missing Out." What makes "Darker Days" the perfect intro track to start the album?
Darker Days won’t be the intro for our coming album but we found coming back to it that it set the stage perfectly for the stories we’ve been preparing to tell. Darker Days helps us present Homeless in Hawaii to the public while showing the tone, vibe, and quality you can expect from the many more singles we have planned before FOMO. As Darker Days opens the flood gates for us, the following releases will be the start of a narrative where each single’s music video is a chapter in a larger story that they will all come together at the end adjacent to the complete story and experience of the coming full album. Our choices for our music and related content are deeply inspired creatively by film, movies, and unparalleled narratives like presented in franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Your upcoming album 'The Fear of Missing Out' is said to be two years in the making. Was most of the process creating new songs for the project, or tweaking the current songs to the band's liking?
The 2-year process of creating FOMO and its adjacent content comes from our desire to continuously tweak, change, and perfect our material the way we’d like to have while also juggling life, work, and our university programs. We all are students of the Digital Audio Arts program at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Since embarking on this path for ourselves, we’ve cut a couple of songs in the process with a slight few additions being made, Darker Days being one of the additions. The music industry right now is against the idea of albums when it comes to independent artists. Our intention with pursuing a large concept record during a time like this is because we’ve spent the time and effort developing an album that’s meant to be an album and worth experiencing as an album. In many ways, FOMO plays a larger connected song between everything. A musical audio-based movie of sorts. We pride ourselves in having achieved that after 2 long years. In addition, we kept in mind that individual songs are to be appreciated on their own isolated from the grander context in which they will come from. You will find, with each release and time, that we have created these standalone little adventures and stories that will truly come together in an Avengers-like even album called The Fear of Missing Out.
What are you doing to stay inspired and passionate throughout these tough times?
We’re staying inspired and passionate through these tough times, but continuing to prepare content and material for all the releases we have planned, and continue to polish the final album.