Watch: "Clever Is Not My Best Excuse" via IFC 

Download" "That Girl Don't Sleep" via Daydream Vacation website

After a performance together at the 2011 Sasquatch Festival, Dave Einmo, mastermind behind Head Like A Kite and Asya of the band Smoosh are pleased to announce their new group Daydream Vacation. Daydream Vacation is Asya on vocals, with Dave laying down the beats and acting as producer/mad scientist. In anticipation of their forthcoming album, IFC is running a premiere of the video for “Clever Is Not My Best Excuse” and the band is offering an MP3 download of “That Girl Don’t Sleep” on their website.

The idea for the band originated while Dave was working on a new HLAK album and invited Asya to guest on a couple of tracks, as she has done on previous releases. The duo had so fun much working together that they decided to create a whole new project. Dave and Asya decided on the name Daydream Vacation, after one of the first HLAK songs they wrote together in 2006. Combining Head Like a Kite’s genre-bending-electro-party with Asya’s indie-dream-pop vocals, Daydream Vacation will self-release their debut album, Dare Seize the Fire this summer. Be part of the recording, and help Dave and Asya finish the debut Daydream Vacation album by contributing to their Kickstarter campaign. Click here to pledge and earn personalized CDs, private live performances, vip parties and other thank-you gifts.

Dave Einmo and Asya have known each other for many years. Dave released the first Smoosh album She Like Electric on his small record label, Pattern 25, in 2004 before Smoosh moved over to Barsuk (when Asya was only 14). Asya has appeared on tracks from multiple HLAK releases, and made rare live appearances. Combined, their projects (Head Like a Kite and Smoosh) have received praise from Rolling Stone, MTV, LA Times, Pitchfork, Spin, Magnet and many more. Their previous bands have appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, MTV, and toured with and opened for Death Cab for Cutie, TV On the Radio, Pearl Jam, Neon Trees, Dresden Dolls, The Eels, Tokyo Police Club, Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens, Jimmy Eat World, among others. 

Daydream Vacation’s debut album Dare Seize the Fire was recorded in both Sweden and Seattle. In the spring of 2011 Asya was living in Sweden and while Dave was in Seattle. During the spring and early summer the two traded musical ideas back and forth via Skype. Dave started tracking the beats and sent them to Asya, where she then demoed vocal ideas in a makeshift studio she set up in a barn in Sweden. By August the two had enough material for an album and Asya flew to Seattle, where they tracked the album in Dave’s home studio.

“We wanted it to sound live, so we used all live instruments and then cut them up and sampled them," says Dave. "I approached it like a DJ except, rather than sampling other people's beats, I created loops of us playing the live instruments. We invited several friends to join the party on drums, trumpet, sax, and gang vocals.”

The nine tracks on Dare Seize The Fire are full of sunny dance beats, meaty analog synths, mischievous guitars, and anthemic vocal hooks. Throughout the record Dave and Asya encourage listeners to seize the day - to live your life to it’s fullest rather than being submissive and passively sleep walking through life. Take chances in life and celebrate the day.

Daydream Vacation