The Daydream Club

The Daydream Club
Adam & Paula
Background information
Origin	Leicestershire Via Redcar United Kingdom
Genres	Folk rock, Alt-country, Indie folk
Years active	2010–present
Website	The Daydream Club
Members	Adam Pickering Paula Walker

The Daydream Club are an English indie folk duo formed in 2010 by Adam Pickering and Paula Walker. In the last few years, the duo have enjoyed significant support from the BBC (TV and Radio), Rolling Stone, Acoustic Magazine, Burberry,^[1] and the Hype Machine's most influential music blogs.^[2] Adam, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer, was formerly a session musician, whilst Paula was a professional dancer. The Consequence of Sound journalist, Tony Hardy, opined that "Together, they appear to have found their true milieu in The Daydream Club".^[3]
The real life couple have, to date, self-released all of their own work. Never settled with just one version of a song, Adam and Paula like to experiment with alternatives and re-imagine each track they release.^[4] Tracks from their double EP ‘Found’ and ‘Found (Remixed)’ amassed a staggering one million Spotify streams in just two weeks.^[5]

History

The pair first met in January 2005 on a site-specific arts project in a derelict tobacco factory in Liverpool.^[6] The project was in conjunction with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) where they both studied. Throughout their studies and after graduating they continued to collaborate on various projects and pursued careers in their respective fields.

Adam Pickering, a multi-instrumentalist (keys, drums, guitar, bass, percussion, melodica) and veteran of the band circuit, has supported the likes of Sam Sparro, The Wombats, Sneaky Sound System, Tinchy Stryder, DJ Yoda and Felix B from Basement Jaxx.^[6]

Paula Walker began her career as a professional dancer touring internationally with hit percussion show 'Noise Ensemble', headlining Henley Festival and working with Luc Petit (Director of Cirque Du Soleil).^[6] After enjoying a successful career in dance, Paula then moved into music and joined Adam Pickering to form The Daydream Club.

Releases

'L U X' (Album - 2016)
The husband and wife multi-genre duo (aka Adam & Paula) cover a lot of musical ground in this deluxe double album. The first half features the original take of the songs with a mostly indie-folk angle and the second half sees the duo pulling their usual trick of remixing themselves to flip the songs on their head into more of an alternative, electronic, beats orientation. Throughout, you can expect The Daydream Clubs trademark boy/girl vocals on top of a bed of lush, instrumental layers and subtleties reserved for those who wish to dig a little deeper into headphone territory. The album is made up partly of previously released back catalogue and brand new tracks. For the first time, they are all pulled together in one ambitiously adventurous album that sets the sonic bar wide open for the bands future releases. ^[7]

'Piano Project' (Album - 2016)
This brainchild of The Daydream Club is an immersive offering that brings the audience into the heart of the creative process as it happens. The entire 10 track 'Piano Project' album was written, recorded and filmed in just 3 hours, all at the hands of the real life couple Adam & Paula. The idea for an instrumental piano release stemmed from impromptu improvisations that Adam has been known to do at gigs with the luxury of a real piano present. The band have taken that idea a step further, recording every track on the album as they were conceived, truly capturing a passing moment in time. To document this process it was all filmed live, ^[8] offering an extra dimension to the music and creating an incredibly intimate, honest and unique audience experience. ^[9]

'Saltwater' (Single - 2015)
The Daydream Club’s Adam Pickering surprised his musical soulmate Paula Walker by asking her to marry him during the video shoot for the single.^[10] Adam explains "I’d been thinking ahead to the future and while filming the video for Saltwater I realised that I would probably never have a more perfect opportunity to do it. Paula and I had our first official date at Formby Beach in Liverpool. It’s an absolutely beautiful place, so I suggested it to Paula as a shoot location (secretly thinking that it’s the ideal place to pop the question). I had the perfect musical backdrop, meaningful setting and even sparklers… After initial confusion from Paula, (she thought it was a strange scene that I hadn’t told her about), she eventually realised it was a genuine moment and thankfully said yes. [Saltwater is] about finding your soul-mate, the person you fit so perfectly with that you move together through life as one fluid entity, 'You are salt and I the water, and now we are the ocean, we move in fluid motion.'”^[11] The Saltwater single is also backed with a self-produced remix.^[12]

'Found (Remixed)' (EP - 2013)
This EP is the result of The Daydream Club remixing their own work on the Found EP. According to the band, Found (Remixed) involves them "stretching their musical legs and flipping the original songs on their heads."^[13]

'Found' (EP - 2013)
The rootsy folk-pop lead single 'Found' featured on Burberry Acoustic.^[14] Found is the product of a hugely successful fan funding campaign^[15] that saw fans pledge money for songwriting lessons, bespoke cover versions and even a personalised song from the band. As part of the campaign, Adam & Paula thanked each and every backer with a personalised thank you dedication picture. Some of these pictures make up the artwork for the EP.

'Just' (Single - 2013)
Released on Valentine's Day, February 14, the track 'Just' won the duo the London FolkFest Songwriting Award For New Creativity.^[16]

'Neon Love Song' (Single - 2012)
Neon Love Song is the third single from the self-released duo. While The Daydream Club’s debut album ‘Overgrown’ deliberately aimed to strip away production layers to focus on song-writing and acoustic instrumentation, this reworked version of the album favourite was a sign of things to come, with a fuller sound. ^[17] After the success of their first appearance on Burberry Acoustic, Christopher Bailey contacted the band requesting their participation in an upcoming ad campaign.^[18] In 2012, they were chosen as the new faces for the Spring/Summer eyewear launch alongside a cast of other British musicians including Life In Film, Marika Hackman and One Night Only. In an interview with Right Chord Music,^[19] the duo describe the development of the track, "[Burberry] wanted the whole project to have a more luxurious, cinematic feel to it compared to Burberry Acoustic. We took the opportunity to properly sit down, score out a string arrangement and drum parts and develop our sound to the more epic territories that we had been planning to take it to." All the tracks were recorded exclusively for Burberry with stunning accompanying music videos filmed on set in London. This track secured the band features with Rolling Stone magazine, Vogue, Grazia and a number of other fashion and music editorials. This re-worked single version was mixed and mastered by Sam Bell (REM, Snow Patrol, Robbie Williams & Foals) and features an epic strings section including Elbow’s violinist and Lana Del Rey’s Cellist.^[17]

'On The Move' (Single - 2012)
"Best work yet. Mesmerising" Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music
On The Move (Part II) hints at the developing musical direction for the duo, with a fuller, more expansive sound.^[20] In reference to their music video, Right Chord Music commented that "if ever a video perfectly encapsulated a band, this is surely it."^[20] The single is backed by the original, rhythmically driven album version of the track, which showcases the percussive guitar skills of Adam Pickering.

'The Record Shop' (Single - 2011)
Released on April 16 as a special, limited edition vinyl for Record Store Day 2011. It features previously unreleased, cinematic instrumental B-Side 'The Musician' and the specially designed vinyl sleeve features photographs of 40 independent UK record shops.^[21]

'Overgrown' (Album - 2010)
The premise behind 'Overgrown' was to strip everything back to the bare bones of a song, aiming to highlight the arrangement that remains. It was this idea that led to the intimate acoustic affair which is The Daydream Club's début release.^[22] After a video of the duo performing was shown to Burberry's Chief Creative Officer, they received an email inviting them to perform on Burberry's acoustic music series, which showcases and supports new British music talent. The track 'In The Arms of Another Day' was subsequently used in promotional material for the brand who have continued to support and work with the band in releases since.

References

External links

• Website