daine unveils shoegaze inspired new track ‘Sleepwalking’

Photo by Hannah Diamond
July 1 2022

PRAISE FOR daine

“A future emo icon”

NME

“Teen angst’s freshest voice”

V Magazine

“It feels healing and painful; like looking directly at a solar flare”

The Guardian

“A nihilistically detached voice”

The FADER

“Emo-pop melodies with otherworldly aesthetics that feel like they’ve been plucked from a faraway fantasy land”

DAZED

“Daine’s creative spin on such a distinctive sound evokes an irresistible nostalgia”

Pigeons & Planes

“The shimmery, futuristic sound of Daine is unmistakeable — because there’s nothing quite like it currently being made”

Vogue Australia

‘Sleepwalking’ is out now via Warner, buy/stream it here.

Following the release of her debut project Quantum Jumping, Melbourne-based artist daine today opens the next chapter with new track ‘Sleepwalking’. LISTEN HERE.

After 18 months of fervent anticipation, May 2022 saw daine unveil her highly anticipated debut project Quantum Jumping. A seven-track self-professed “tombstone to her adolescence”, the project charted a chronological timeline of the first songs she ever wrote; providing a fascinating insight into the natural songwriting talent and innovative capabilities of one of the world’s most confounding young talents. Singles such as ‘Cemetery Dreams’ and ‘Weekends’ directly flew in the face of previous releases like the Dylan Brady of 100 Gecs produced ‘Boys Wanna Txt’ and ‘Salt’, her collaboration with rock icon Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon, showcasing a more tender facet of her creativity while intriguing the listener as to where she may go next.

Produced by regular  collaborator  Lonelyspeck (‘Salt’ + ’Ascension’) as well as guitar from blvu and additional production from Brevin Kim & hearteyes, ‘Sleepwalking’ is by far the duo’s most sonically lush work to date. Finding daine musing on the dazed feeling after separating from someone you care about, her affected vocals sit perfectly within the track’s shoegaze and hip-hop-inspired soundscape for a track that’s an uplifting, yet no less bruising listen. ‘Sleepwalking’ platforms a more textured, considered approach to daine’s incredibly mature craft, conveying isolation for the greater good in a way that feels completely unique to her while maintaining signature features that made her so beloved in the first place; midwest emo-inspired guitars, piercing lyricism and an immersive vocal tone.

Fresh off the back of her debut live shows abroad, including a sold-out headline date in London, as well as two supporting mentor Charli XCX for her highly sought-after “all eras” shows, the personal diary that daine has been writing through her music has continued to receive worldwide recognition. As she begins its next chapter, ‘Sleepwalking’ acts as a staggering example of just how devastating and gratifying her creativity can be. If the last 18 months were a show of daine’s incandescent promise, her future is set to consolidate that excitement with a catalogue of unpredictable and richly diverse works that are set to expand the horizons of pop and alternative music as we know it.

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