Bleach Day – ‘As If Always’

Post Author: Jeff Cubbison

Vermont lo-fi indie group breaks through on dreamy sophomore LP

Bleach Day is a Burlington, Vermont-based lo-fi project led by Vinny Marksohn and Louie Kiley. Having now expanded to a five-piece, the band continues to craft dreamy, infectious indie tracks with a reverb-soaked twang. Their 2016 debut album Where to Dream was full of hazy hooks and poignant songwriting, and was a sign of big potential. Today, Impose is thrilled to premiere the full visualizer for Bleach Day’s pensive, cinematic sophomore LP as if always, which officially drops today via Birdwatcher Records.

The album opens on the bleary, simmering dream-pop of “daylilies,” in which rippling piano notes fade along with washy static before adding sparse percussion and rhythms. Soothing vocals and airy psych-pop riffs consume the ethereal “the calm,” while more folk-acoustic elements wash through on “in limbo.” And then there’s the moving ballad “talking in circles,” which conjures a meditative tone while gentle piano soundscapes float alongside nostalgic guitars and searing lyrics tackling turbulent themes of honesty and artifice: “What are you really saying?/ Are you just faking?/ Or are you real?/ Do you believe what you’re saying/ Or is your world just fading away?/ Talking in circles but I can’t walk away/ Every breath is like a hurricane.”

From there, the album oscillates between wondrous lounge-pop (“tru north,”), hazy slowcore (“no wonder”, “bbs in the grass”) and pensive indie-rock (“solo”) with chameleonic ease.

On Bandcamp, Bleach Day shared: “as if always composes a sonic language that takes the listener through a story of growth and self discovery in its most primeval form, which mirrors a full life cycle from birth to death. Through struggle you learn to confront your fears, your shadows, and your limitations to become the person you are meant to be. It’s a journey to a place that feels far away – until you realize it’s actually within yourself, and always has been.”

as if always also comes with a colorful, kaleidoscopic visualizer and lyric video that is utterly transfixing to watch. You can purchase the album HERE, and check that out below.