The folk-pop airwave dream merchants A Sunny Day in Glasgow began their windswept sonic journey in 2007 and ended with a whimper in 2018, releasing five dramatically divergent and emotionally fuzz-drenched EPs and five albums, two of which contained gems written with heartbreaking precision.
Originally formed by twin sisters Jen and Lauren Goma (vocals, guitar, drums/programming/samples), A Sunny Day in Glasgow was a reaction to overly manicured and star-syched tropes of what constituted ‘pop music’. The twins wanted to explore the darker reaches of their dreams and the crevasses of reality, using their songs as a conduit to who they truly felt they were.
The band landed their first recording contract with Lefse Records in 2007, releasing their debut Fierce Bad Rabbit EP. This short but compelling burst of nature-inflected aura and adolescent feelings laid the groundwork for what was to come. The FBR tracks seemed more worked up than those on later efforts, but they contained all the hallmarks of the sound which critics would soon give a fantastic second glance. Many found these tunes to be ahead of their time, utilizing samples which weren’t toys but rather captured dreams which often fall short of waking life.
The next two recordings released in 2008 and, accompanied by a show curated by them in at the Shinebox Gallery in Philadelphia, found the band playing more poppy songs with buried dreams filled with nostalgia. The level of angst and turbulence, the signature of ASDIaG's vignettes, was also still present on these cuts, including the total ahh-fest “In Love with Useless.†During this time the band performed all over the country, establishing themselves further as one of indie's freshest acts.
With impressive critical attention complementing sound endorsement from European festivals like KEXP (Sweden), PSS (Denmark) and Polar Music (Sweden), brand new side trip The Sunniest Day Ever dropped in 2009. This collection featured synth-based songs with dashes of sunny optimism about our broken world. 10.4 Rog, Rags to Riches to Rags and Wild Onion stepped ahead of the sound entwined in previous releases by incorporating a more rare volume of air compression and manipulated noise painting—always lending a unique voice to each track.
Having lured tastemakers on both sides of the Atlantic ASDIaG had truly established themselves. The latter half of their creative contribution only further hammered home the fact the band preferred colors over noise, constantly augmenting their sonic mood.
Their second album, `Shy, Loud + Everywhere In Between` was recognized as an acute combination of influences-from dreamy shoegaze/garage Rock to ambient indie. ASDIaG took in the electric guitars of `modularized' noise-rockers A Place to Bury Strangers, who acted as mentors while aiding their ascent through the swelter of the Summer of 2010.
By 2012 they had released their critically lauded album Sea When Absent, and with it, found a niche within hipster-leaning music blogs and slipped further into our hearts and minds with their accessible yet distant story telling. Sea When Absent was an exercise in physicality and achieved a massive feat in their attempt to transcend soundscapes with orchestrated perfection.
The third proper LP from A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Planning Weed Like It's Acid / Life Is Loss followed in 2014, detailing their specific artist/critic dynamic, where collective digging and devouring led to unexpectedly beautiful results. This album was a more introspective affair; driven by clean production and subtly room-shaking effects, songs like "Somewhat Literate" and "Never Nothing" seemed to give us serious pause with their multidimensional traits.
The band’s fifth and final release, which came in 2015, was a more mature expression of their roots within the electronic and post-punk sound where moments of dreamy sonic serenity kissed by soft descents of muffled percussion and otherworldly bursts of white noise fell into place as magical stories unfolded within away-from-the-world cinematographic visuals.
In 2018, A Sunny Day in Glasgow officially disbanded as each of the members moved to pursue other avenues in music and the creative arts. What remains, however, are the beautiful snapshots of untraditional pop that continue to shine on various streaming services and select record stores. The amount of certainty and insecurity ultimately permeates much of their celebrated catalog and continues to pull at heartstrings to this day. Through their catalogue of work, ASDIaG remain one of underground indie's unsung heroes.