NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

There's always a certain level of trust an artist has to have in a producer. Pvris had worked with one producer, Blake Harnage , on their first two albums and EPs. But after recording with Paper Route 's JT Daly , the band decided to finish their third album, Use Me , with him. The result was a hookier, poppier, vibier version of the group. This met with some backlash with some of the fans of the band's older material; however, lead singer Lynn Gunn told Alternative Press , "We've always been kind of a pop act." The first single from the Hallucinations EP " Death of Me " helped to bridge the old sound to their second single "Hallucinations," which sees the band flirting with EDM production, yet in the haze and psychedelia, it's still clearly rock. MY MIND IS RUNNING WILD.  Gunn had had a songwriting session with Marshmello and Amy Allen, but she didn't think anything from that session fit her band. JT Daly told Gunn, "Serio

It's only a month until Valentine's Day, which was the most miserable holiday for a teenager trapped in the closet in a Christian school. I was quite bitter towards a day that couples showed off their affection. I grew more and more cynical towards the day with every passing year. Fourteen-year-old me would be surprised that in 20 years, I would be thinking about the holiday a month before. But somewhere on the way from teenage-angsty emo music to a Christian pre-ordained incel-hood, like the blinding light to Paul on the road to Damascus, NoiseTrade 's 25 Love Songs rescued me from cynicism towards candy hearts. This album certainly wasn't the entirety of my love salvation, but it did start me on the path to thinking that love is possible and not total bullshit. I'LL ALWAYS PROTECT YOU. Ahead of their delayed The Peace of Wild Things , Paper Route released a second track from the album. " Better Life " had helped me through a very dark time in my life, s

Ian Mahan grew up in Illinois taking piano lessons and taekwondo. Of the two, he preferred taekwondo, practicing to become a Junior Olympian and a regional champion. However, at the age of 16, Mahan injured his knee, and his doctor told him he had "degenerative arthritis." In his latter years of high school, Ian turned to music and writing songs. Learning guitar at the age of 18 helped the singer discover "his true instrumental passion," according to his Spotify biography. The singer moved to Colorado where he plays music in the local scene. YOU HATE WHEN I WRITE LOVE SONGS. Mahan played in several bands in college. According to an interview with Voyage Denver , in high school the singer was dating an athlete who didn't believe in his music career. In college, the singer says that girlfriend "shattered his heart into a million pieces." In 2008, Mahan recorded his first solo work, though it is not available on streaming services. Today's song comes

The fourth track on Kye Kye 's sophomore record, Fantasize , " Glass " continues to build the atmosphere on this Chad Howat -produced record. Back in 2014, there was still hope that Kye Kye could be the next big Christian band. Their 2011 debut, Young Love  landed them a feature interview in Relevant Magazine  and their follow up was well-reviewed in several Christian publications, including CCM Magazine . The band's story was fascinating for the Christian market. Siblings Tim and Olga  Yagolnikov grew up in a conservative Russian churches in Estonia before moving to the United States. In the Relevant article, Tim explains that the siblings' religious upbringing wasn't "really grace-centered, it’s really kind of more legalistic." Tim explains that their religious culture was "not for salvation, it’s for blessing or right-standing with God." TO HOLD ONTO AN IMAGE OF SHADOWS YOU REMEMBER. According to my Apple Music's "Replay '21

Paper Route signed to Universal Motown before releasing their debut LP, Absence , following their Are We All Forgotten EP. Only the title track of the EP appeared on Absence, as the band stepped further away from their Americana roots and more into the realm of retro-synth pop. Bassist/keyboardist  Chad Howat recorded the album. The band played multiple instruments, recorded in an old mansion near Nashville. I remember reading something about how the album was intend to be rerecorded but the band and the label preferred the originals, but I can't find an article about that. Absence was the debut of Paper Route as a band, complete with a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a ton of synthesizers. Paper Route, though, would become a revolving door of drummers and guitarists. Only singer and multi-instrumentalist JT Daly and bassist/keyboardist Chad Howat would stay for the entire duration of the band's career. I WISH YOU WOULD LISTEN, TO GET THROUGH IT . Paper Route's early wo

In 2007 Paste Magazine named Paper Route "One to Watch." And while they never lived up to their potential, the Nashville band recorded music that they believed in. The band released several independent EPs before signing to Universal Records. Their debut LP Absence  and remix EP Additions were released on Universal Motown. But before their major-label debut, the band released a 5-song EP titled Are We All Forgotten, a named for a song which would also appear on their debut LP. After sharing several songs on the band's MySpace page,  Are We All Forgotten was released on July 8, 2008. Absence was released on April 28 the next year. THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR. Are We All Forgotten featured big studio production the band hadn't used on their earlier EPs, Paper Route and  A Thrill of Hope. The band's previous work had been more in the vein of Americana. But the complex beats and noisy synths on AWAF  showed where the band was heading. Yet, the band's ear for Americana

Taking long breaks between albums in order to self-record in old mansions around Nashville, Paper Route has only produced three full-length albums in their fifteen years active. Whenever they announce a new album, it's met with delays. Their sophomore album, The Peace of Wild Things , is no exception. After the departure of guitarist/co-vocalist Andy Smith , the band didn't have a permanent lead guitarist, and wouldn't until Nick Aranda joined the band before recording Real Emotion .   The Peace of Wild Things is a more pop-friendly album than their etherial debut, Absence . Peace builds the band up lyrically and contains some memorable choruses. But songs like " Sugar ," " Rabbit Holes ," " Tamed ," " Calm My Soul ," and today's song, " Glass Heart Hymn ," the otherwise straight-forward pop album down an artistic journey. MY FEET HAVE LED ME STRAIGHT INTO MY GRAVE. Named after a poem by farmer and environmentalist We

J.T. Daly , lead singer of Paper Route , has stayed busy in the music business during Paper Route and after the band ended. In addition to releasing solo records and several side projects, he has composed for an ESPN film, produced several alternative musicians including K.Flay and Pvris, remixed Anberlin, Judah the Lion, MuteMath,  and Switchfoot, and works in visual arts, making band merchandise and phone cases. The first single from Paper Route's third and final album, "Chariots" deals with Paper Route's most common theme--break ups. While lead singer J.T. Daly maintains his privacy in his personal life, cryptic statements from stage, such as "This has been the hardest year ever" on two separate years, the lyrics alluding to break ups, divorce, and using "chemicals" to forget, have fans speculating about the singer's love life and mental state. The song "Chariots" depicts the speaker and his love, who is "giving up the fight&q

Listening to Paper Route makes me wonder, what if Coldplay , after recording X & Y   had continued making electronic music and honed in on their lyrics.  Paper Route has a solid a pop-rock band, on par with any of their contemporaries (i.e. OneRepublic , Coldplay), but their somewhat eccentric fidelity to their craft, recording their albums themselves in old Tennessee mansions to let the natural acoustics reverberate on the record, had cemented them as an indie rock band. " Balconies " was kind of Paper Route's first and last hit. The band's music had been featured in movies and television shows, but "Balconies" got them a late night performance slot on Seth Meyers . As one of the most obvious hits from their third album, Real Emotion,  the song was released to radio, but didn't do too well on the charts. After touring to support the album, the band went on "an indefinite hiatus." However, as the band has had long gaps between albums, I wo

I caught Paper Route playing one afternoon at the Gallery stage at Cornerstone. Many bands from Cornerstone don't stick around for long, but I could tell that this band had something very special. They played multiple instruments, but yet, their music didn't sound like it was trying too hard to be creative. It sounded like pop music. I bought their first EP which came in a paper bag. The songs were all about Christmas, but none of the songs were familiar Christmas songs. I began following the band's career. All of their releases were delayed. First the Are We All Forgotten EP, followed by their first major label debut LP   Absence , the departure of vocalist/guitarist Andy Smith, tours with Paramore and Anberlin, the delay of their second, poppier The Peace of Wild Things , an EP called Thank God the Year Is Finally Over , some random covers of Lorde and Destiny's Child , and then their final work, Real Emotion , released on September 23, 2016. BORROW HOPE TO UNDERSTAN