Waking Windows Presents
Jaywood w/ Van Chamberlain
Sunday - October 2nd
Doors 8:00pm / Show 8:30pm
Adv $10 / Dos $10

Canadian songwriter and producer Jeremy Haywood-Smith needed an escape from his state of mourning when he began working on Slightshot, his most recent LP as JayWood, the recording project he started in 2015. After the loss of his mother in 2019 and a global standstill with multiple social crises throughout 2020, Haywood-Smith yearned for some forward momentum. “The idea of looking back to go forward became a really big thing for me—hence the title, Slingshot.” Haywood-Smith explains. Feeling disconnected from his past and ancestry after the death of a parent, Haywood-Smith made a conscious effort to better understand his identity and unique Black experience living in the predominantly white province of Manitoba. Through a year of self reflection and reconnection with his roots, Haywood-Smith has made the biggest leap forward for his project JayWood by simply looking back. Merging fantasy scenarios, personal anecdotes, and infectious pop and dance instrumentals, Slingshot is a self-portrait of JayWood at his surface and his depths.

Van Chamberlain is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band. Having grown up making music together on a shared wavelength, brothers Van & Jacob began playing under the name Van Chamberlain in 2019. They make music that combines dream pop and jangle, with a slight 90’s alternative influence showing through. They’ve each played and toured the world in bands including Phantom Buffalo (Rough Trade Records, Time Lag) and Eternal Drag (members of The Dodos). In 2019 they found themselves reunited in Brooklyn, and immediately began crafting their new record, In the Sun.

The band released their first studio-demo, LY, in 2020, right on the cusp of the global pandemic. Having to cancel their live debut, they instead turned to the recording studio. Their first LP, In the Sun, was finished in 2021. By the end of that year Van Chamberlain signed with Very Jazzed with a release scheduled for March 2022.

In the Sun is an album about layers, both sonically and philosophically. Driven by textures of guitars, lush reverb, and grounded by infectious percussion, In the Sun offers sonic choices that feel new and undiscovered every time you put the record on. While Van’s laid-back vocal style offers the disposition of a sunny day with little to do, his lyrics draw from personal experiences of loss and subsequent growth. Their layered sonic approach reaffirms the band’s philosophical message: that what’s past is prologue, and the future holds promise, but neither will count unless you make peace with the present.