daysormay lean into their vices on the all-consuming “SIMMER”

Rotting in bed, buying another vape after you promised yourself you’d quit, dissociating into a social media black hole. These are all things that we know we shouldn’t do, but sometimes feel too good to stop.

“SIMMER", the latest track from Canadian trio daysormay (Aidan Andrews, Carson Bassett, and Nolan Bassett), explores this downward spiral of overconsumption that feels simultaneously fulfilling and soul-sucking. The Chin Injeti-produced track is the first single from their forthcoming followup to 2021’s Just Existing LP. Resembling darker Just Existing tracks like “Ego,” “SIMMER” signals a shift away from Twenty One Pilots-esque pop rock and towards thicker, heavier electro-rock and trip hop.

The track opens with choral synths and cascading, blown out vocals that suggest a more straightforward EDM lean, mirroring something you’d hear on a ZHU album intro. There’s then a tune down that propels into the gritty, distorted main melody, making you forget about the intro as quickly as you were once entrenched in it. The vocal textures contrast both with each other and with the instrumentals around them: the staccato verse falsettos clash against the deep bass tones and create a distinct jump to the warped and staticky vocals in the hook. “SIMMER” has depth, and Injeti’s production intricately places basslines, claps, synth drones, and vocal effects to give listeners a full body experience, mirroring the effect of leaning into one’s impulse.

Lyrically, “SIMMER” explores the peaks and valleys of giving into things you know you shouldn’t be doing. Andrews says the song came at a time when he “was really struggling to moderate my consumption of everything. I was giving into any and every impulse that showed up, and I didn’t care. [“SIMMER”] is speaking from that place, that state of mind of knowing you’re too far gone but not caring, and even leaning into it.”

The intro’s cascading synth textures and layered vocals evoke feelings of the ‘angel’ on your shoulder trying to steer you in the right direction, paired with lyrics “Dead on a sunny day / Too hard to walk away / Too young to fade to grey / Keep running” that emphasize the reluctant influence these impulses still have. The ‘devil’ shows itself in the track’s main hook, with lines like “Everything for sale, you can see but not take / Chase a burnout till it’s deep in my veins / I can hide the whole world under my face” leaning into the chaos and satisfaction of doing something you know is wrong. In the pre chorus, the song even switches POVs to the vice itself: “Don’t lie to me / All your time belongs to me, yeah / You can’t hide from me / I’m the only one you need, yeah,” showing a complete view of the give and take that comes with a downward spiral.

On “SIMMER,” daysormay explores the relationship between us and our vices with intensity and depth, leaning into contradictory feelings of comfort and regret.