Dari Bay’s new album Surprise Wish is a more focused record, exploring the natural world and personal growth. Singer and songwriter Zack James describes the record as having a ‘coming-of-age aspect to it’ and a ‘post-Covid essence,’ awakened to the potential of future years following a stretch in which things felt more unsteady.

Personal Growth

James’ experiences shaped him, and he has friends who are better at addressing that, which made him feel a little bit emotionally behind. He went into the vault and thought about core memories that are hazy and distant but were profoundly impactful, for better or worse.

The musician tries not to think too much about it, but it’s trying things out, having a really small idea and then sort of blowing it up, and then going back and forth more dramatically between different sounds until slowly the back and forth gets smaller and less dramatic. This has led to a more-focused path.

Natural World

There exists within Surprise Wish an inherent gravity toward the natural world, James singing of broad blue skies, ringing mountains, and the pleasures to be gained from listening to the thunder while sprawled out in the summer grass. He contrasts this with how he depicts cities, which he views as ‘urban decay’ and ‘full of gray.’

James is from a very rural place and when he was a kid, he didn’t understand why cities existed. But even so, he still gets this feeling when he leaves the city and drives back to Vermont, where it’s like his muscles relax and settle down.

Original reporting: Matter News (Columbus) — read the source article.