Dayglow
photo by Pooneh Ghana // Interview by Jamie Hampton
Sloan Struble, more commonly known as the solo indie artist, Dayglow, has spent the last few years growing - not only as an artist and producer, but as an individual as well. With the release of his sophomore album, Harmony House, he’s facing changes and growth at a rapid pace, all while maintaining an optimistic outlook and a smile on his face.
“I grew up in a small town, where I am now, called Aledo and I was the only person at all that would’ve cared that, like, The Strokes existed or something,” Struble explained, sitting in his bedroom at his parent’s house where he created Fuzzybrain. “And I felt kind of isolated in a way, so I had no choice other than to just make music on my own.”
After moving to Austin by himself, he had a realization that he really liked making music on his own.
Struble added, “It had become such a personal thing for me and I like having complete creative freedom and allowing a message to get across in a song.”
At 10 years old Struble started making music when his parents got him guitar lessons, however that didn’t last long after being shown Garage Band by his cousin.
“I just immediately quit because I did not like it. I was like, ‘I wanna learn some other music,’ and it wasn’t anything like Guitar Hero, so I just kept playing Guitar Hero compared to actual guitar,” Struble said.
After being shown Garage Band, Struble became obsessed with layering sounds and using the loops it had available, and that was the starting point of him learning how to produce music.
“And then out of that love for production I self-taught myself other instruments,” Struble said. “Because it reached a point where I had run out of loops to use and had to learn some instruments.”
In 2019, Struble released his first Dayglow record, Fuzzybrain, which put him on the map in the bedroom pop scene. “Can I Call You Tonight?” went viral and Struble faced rapid growth from that point forward, including his skills as a producer.
Fuzzybrain was created in his bedroom at his parent’s house, with a DIY feeling to it, but when he started creating Harmony House, things shifted.
“Harmony House came along and people were like, ‘Sloan’s a producer,’ I had this pressure to up the production, which I wanted to,” Struble said. “But it was weird releasing music to no one versus a lot of people waiting to listen to this next record, especially when it was such a different direction.”
In the midst of all of these changes and growth Struble was facing, the COVID-19 pandemic played a major role in shifting Dayglow’s reality. Dayglow was slotted to play his first headlining tour, but unfortunately had to cancel it. Now, he is facing his first headlining tour after releasing two albums.
“I definitely skipped a lot of steps I wish I could have had,” Struble said. “It’s weird because I haven’t gotten to have baby steps, so like ‘Can I Call You Tonight?’ will be a couple years old and it won’t even only be my first time to be playing it live but it’s people’s first time singing it in the crowd.”
However, creatively, the pandemic didn’t seem to take too much of a toll on Struble as he continued to create under Dayglow after coming to terms with not getting to experience his tour.
“The other half of what I love to do, I had ample amount of time to do it, and it allowed me to mix the record, and it allowed me to have, you know, still an outlet,” Struble said. “Because a lot of people during the pandemic were kind of completely stripped of whatever they liked to do, so I’m just thankful to still have an opportunity to fill my time.”
Although Fuzzybrain and Harmony House took completely different approaches, one thing both records possess is Struble’s ability to be personal with his art.
“Something really cool about Dayglow and my opportunity I have as an artist is to really just grow up with my music,” Struble said. “Since nobody else is touching it it’s kind of like a personal scrapbook of each step and phase of my life.”
Struble explained that with Fuzzybrain, it was generally about waiting for change to come and waiting to move to a new city on his own. On the other hand, Harmony House was about dealing with the rapid, viral changes he experienced, all while continuing to be optimistic.
“I try to be as happy as possible, I like the idea of making music that makes people feel good,” Struble said. “But that’s a really scary territory if you want to be taken seriously because usually optimistic music immediately is like Disney-ish, where artists that are taken serious with a motive are kind of upset at something.”
Optimism is something Struble takes pride in and works to instill in his music. At a time where a lot of people are looking inward or setting themselves at the center of their universe, Struble aims to make music that challenges that.
“I think not too much music or art is encouraging us to love our neighbor despite who they are, you know,” Struble said. “It’s kind of very like, ‘I’m the main character, and this is my soundtrack,’ which is great, but I just try to be conscious of loving others.”
The creation of Harmony House was heavily influenced by personality musicians from the 70s and 80s, alongside sitcoms and other nostalgic things. All of this was paired with Struble’s fascination around how most feel good songs from those eras never die.
“I just try to draw inspiration from that stuff and try to make some timeless music that wasn’t very like, me trying to make an album that was right in the middle of bedroom pop or indie something,” Struble said. “Taking my indie roots and influences, you know the Phoenix, MGMT type stuff and somehow mixing it with like James Taylor, which was a really fun challenge.”
Being 21 years old, dealing with all of the rapid changes in his life and career have also proven to be a challenge for Struble.
“I guess my biggest challenge has been knowing how to balance being an artist and just like, being a person,” Struble said. “Because I want to be really personal and realistic, but the responsibility of being an artist is really strange.”
Struble explores this in his new YouTube series, Very Nice Chat, where he talks to other artists about how to balance both things, as well as what it means to be an artist.
“You know there’s a lot of pressure nowadays, which is a good pressure, where like you’re different because you’re an artist, well I’m kind of just a person, you know?” Struble said. “And learning how to balance that while being 21, I’m still growing up.”
While Struble is still growing, he has been able to achieve a lot in just a few quick years. From creating an entire album out of his bedroom, to releasing a highly-anticipated sophomore album, the last three years have been a whirlwind and he’s still figuring out where it’s all going.
“I think my brain, as a male, doesn’t even develop until I’m like 25 or something, so I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m convinced no one does,” Struble said. “But you don’t have to know where you’re going to be while it’s beginning, just let it happen. That’s how growing works.”
Struble will be hitting the road this fall to showcase Harmony House and finally get to experience his first tour.
Keep up with Dayglow online + grab tickets to a show.
dayglowband.com