We’ve never really given any thought to what music would form the most appropriate soundtrack for a novel or for an author. Why would it? Despite this, when Orlando five piece Day Joy got in touch and told us that their new video for “Bone and Bloody” was inspired by the Haruki Murakami novel, Kafka On The Shore, our reaction was an instantaneous ‘yes’. Whilst Murakami’s novels themselves are filled with jazz and 60s and 70s pop culture, we cannot think of another band whose sound is better suited to the fantastical-normality of his work than Day Joy.
Taken from their debut album, Go To Sleep, Mess (which was in our top 5 albums of last year), “Bone and Bloody”, like its counterparts, has a spectral quality to it. There is a dreamlike blurriness to its melody as swirling vocals melt into gentle, probing banjo plucking and hazy harmonicas. Like Murakami, Day Joy create distorted worlds of realistic wonder and magical mundanity, they just do so with music and sounds rather than words. None the less, there is a distinct correlation between the imagination and creativity found within both artists spheres and there are perfectly complementary and suited to one another.
Here, in the Geoff Levy directed video, Day Joy’s soundscapes and Murakami’s mind are brought together with accompanying visuals and the result, whilst at least as confusing as the source material (fans will appreciate that Kafka On The Shore is not known for giving explanations or tying up loose ends) is quite breathtaking.
’Go To Sleep Mess’ is on Small Plates Records and can be ordered here.
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