DC rock ensemble, Dear Daria, channels our collective pandemic-induced existential dread and musings on new EP, Solastalgia

Solastalgia is the six song follow-up to Dear Daria’s debut album, Can I Be Frank? Engineered and mixed by Mark Reiter at BIAS Studios in Northern Virginia, Solastalgia, will undoubtedly warrant repeat listens.

“Tino” and “Empire” are bonafide pop anthems that have been big crowd pleasers at the band’s live shows. The former describes the archetypal flakey friend who makes a lot of promises but rarely follows through, while the latter is an homage to the mid-90s cult classic, Empire Records. The EP’s other four tracks are more cerebral post-pandemic reflections. “On the Inside” explores how lockdown-induced depression made even the most simple and mundane of tasks feel daunting and impossible. “Avalanche” is a reaction to the skepticism of science and rejection of truth and fact that proliferated throughout the pandemic. “Cabin Fever” is a manic, frenzied study of what can happen to people when you keep them cooped up inside by themselves for too long, and “Making a Dying” is a somber, but hopeful closer that asks the listener a simple, but profound question: can we really call it “making a living” if we have to work until we die? And could there perhaps be a different path we could take?

Dear Daria is composed of DC music veterans Maryjo Mattea, Joshua Hunter, Eamonn Donnelly, and Dan ABH. The band writes storyteller songs about angst, love, mental health and depression, and a longing for the world to be the kind of safe and accepting place we all wished we lived in. The band’s spirit is informed by a post-modern mosaic of pop-culture references. Musically, Dear Daria is a brightly-colored swirl of power pop, indie rock, alt-rock, and pop punk.

Modern Mystery Blog called the band “the perfect purveyors of tuneful heart-on-sleeve alt-rock”, and KMS Reviews said, “You gotta love this retro-soaked handmade honesty…it’s a sound that you can dance, sing along, and get addicted to while learning a life lesson.” Guitarist Joshua Hunter discovered the term “solastalgia”, which combines the Latin words for “home” and “pain/suffering”. Philosopher Glenn Albrecht coined the term and defines it as "the homesickness you have when you are still at home" when your home environment is changing in ways you find distressing. “It feels like we accidentally made a concept album,” says Hunter, and “solastalgia” summed up its ethos perfectly.

Making a Dying

Cabin Fever

Avalanche

Empire

On the Inside

Tino

Anthropics

This is the primary song used in the animation called existential crisis in class. It can be found on the WhatsItLike YouTube channel.

I Have No Brain Region for Existential Despair and I Must Comprehend the Subtype of Despair

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms

That's a lonely road you're trav'lin'

thank you to deco*27, akka, mirto (despite not technically having to do with the reloaded version), and otoiro
and thank you, on a more personal level, to gumiyare, jinsei maki, and the support I have been receiving lately

long time, no post! and, I'm back with another "coward mont blanc" cover LOL

it's existential dread taco!
this cover was intended to come out around the time of the anniversary of the song. in fact, i had uploaded a WIP of the cover to twitter, and, to my surprise, it gained a lot of support. it was that support that motivated me to try and actually finish this cover, and it was through twitter that yare had reached out to collaborate and make the art and animation for the PV. (please check out their art. it's super awesome!)

if it weren't for yare, i probably wouldn't have made a very interesting PV at all. but, because i was very grateful for their assistance, i really wanted to make something special! this is the first time i've put together what feels like an actual PV. it took some time due to my own schedule, but the process was as fun as it was complicated. i am proud of what we created, and i wanted to make something yare would be proud to have their art in!

i simplified the credits at the end of the video in order to better fit the frame, so please check out the more detailed credits at the bottom.

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6odXPQRswI
nnd: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm45085535
official repost to bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1qFM1zbEqn (thank you huacun02 for reposting it there with edits!)

svp | mp3 | flac: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hq1vaSjWXeTS-Mm7ZQgS0Dv9_wAQlkve/view?usp=sharing

cover :
song - 
     coward mont blanc (reloaded) by deco*27 feat. hatsune miku
tuning | mixing | cover art - 
     existential dread taco
vocals - 
     gumi sv [synthesizer v megpoid ai]
     other vocals -
          gumi v4 [megpoid v4 native] (double take)
          arsloid (sub-octave)
          me! (also sub-octave)
cover art - @gumiyare on twitter and instagram

thank you very much for listening!
「どうか消えないで」

「coward mont blanc - reloaded」by deco*27 - gumi sv cover [edt] [svp+mp3 dl]

Machinenmensch vs the Hordes of Heidegger

Jangly existential noise pop for your consideration.

TIME LOOPS OVER

Eternal Silence - Acoustic Home Recording

Ghosts

boygirl in athens that makes noise and lofi music across genres
1/3 of the things <333

♥️ ×≠×≠×≠×≠ !¡!¡! ≠×≠×≠×≠× ♥️

i will be a vocal synth producer someday. in the meantime, i'll post various projects.

he/she/they 

https://existentialdreadtaco.carrd.co/

discord: existentialdreadtaco

email: existential.dread.taco+contact@gmail.com

♠️ ×≠×≠×≠×≠ ¡!¡!¡ ≠×≠×≠×≠× ♠️

What do a goth kid, an indie rocker, a vinyl addict, and a Beatlemaniac have in common? Apparently, a lot of Wayne’s World jokes.

Washington, DC-based four-piece Dear Daria writes storyteller songs about angst, love, social commentary, mental health, and a longing for the world to be the kind of safe and accepting place we all wished we lived in. The band’s spirit is informed by a post-modern mosaic of cultural references. Musically, Dear Daria is a brightly-colored swirl of power pop, indie rock, alt-rock, and pop punk. Frontwoman Maryjo Mattea says “it's like if Lennon and McCartney grew up in the 90s”. Composed of long-time DC music mainstays Maryjo Mattea, Joshua Hunter, Eamonn Donnelly, and Dan ABH, Dear Daria has been favorably compared to Paramore, Rilo Kiley, and The Donnas.

New tracks tagged #Existential Dread