The Dayoffs Premiere "Nobody Knows Her" - Stereo Embers Magazine Stereo Embers Magazine

Photo Credit: Paul Takeuchi

A few weeks back, Japanese-Russian duo The Dayoffs released their debut eponymous album through Emerald & Doreen Recordings. Comprised of 11 tracks, the two New York-based producers–Vladimir Komarov and Atsuo Matsumoto–really smashed it on their first album.

Their new video for the song “Nobody Knows Her” is largely improvised, despite originally starting with a script. The video was not only filmed at New York’s Grand Central station, but it involves a young newfound actress.

“My 6-year-old daughter Eva played ‘The Girl’ and pulled it off brilliantly,” says Komarov. “The police came over a couple of times to find out what was going on, but nothing serious transpired. Michael Shatravka made an invaluable contribution to this video with his skills and enthusiasm, while Sasha Nochin worked some magic, taking hours of different video footage and creating a story from all of this. Also great, great, great thanks to my beautiful Eva – she is the real star of this video.”

The album has already received critical acclaim and has also been praised by James Atkin of EMF fame, among others.

“I’ve been so looking forward to this musical offering from The Dayoffs, having followed their progress from the fruition of this new project. These guys have seriously got their song writing and production skills nailed, Vladimir and Atsuo have created a truly stunning album that will no doubtable be on everyone’s turntables by the end of the year,” says Atkin.

The entire album is a pleasure and should appeal to fans of Teenage Fanclub, The Boo Radleys, Ash, Ultra Vivid Scene, and PUNK TV, the latter of which was founded by Komarov himself, along with his other Russian underground music project Hot Zex. While these two bands became staples of the nascent Russian indie rock scene, they were also well-received abroad and widely considered pioneers of Russian shoegaze and indietronica.

Matsumoto is a Japanese musician and sound engineer and apart from his work in The Dayoffs, he is a member of Andy Chase’s Camera2 band.

Matsumoto and Komarov met each other while working in a Manhattan-based recording studio. Always busy working on other people’s music, Vladimir and Atsuo recorded some instrumental improvisations during studio downtime, gathering enough material for a debut LP. Hence, their name The Dayoffs – taken from constant lack of studio time for their own music.

“It took us more than two years to complete this 30-minute record as we are perfectionists,” Matsumoto says. “Every time I listen to it, I have nothing I’d like to add. This means that it is off the table and I’m very excited to know that our next record will follow different direction.”