The Vancouver-based alt-indie band Dacey is composed of lead vocalist Dacey Andrada, guitarist / producer Justin Tecson, drummer Marco Marin, bassist Joshua Akow, and guitarist Nathan Chan. Having met as students at Vancouver’s Nimbus School of Recording and Media, the quintet bonded in their individual eclectic tastes, combining skill sets from their background in jazz, electronic, and Motown. As a result, Dacey’s debut EP, SATIN PLAYGROUND, is a genre-defying project that infuses elements of indie, jazz, alternative R&B, neo-soul and all the other genres in between, to serve up 21 whole minutes of cozy summertime bliss. Released in January 2021, the EP itself, in its title, reflects the vibrant luxury of an intimate satin material. It paints a playful dynamic under the draping flows of silky bed sheets, yet not devoid of the looming kinks and tears of a tender heartache — a subject commonly explored in the band’s discography.
A stroll through the EP’s first track, “Sidewalks,” leaves one riding through the highs and lows of a relationship with groovy guitar riffs, melodic progression and Andrada’s buttery smooth vocal performance. Paving the way with a nod to 1975’s “What More Can I Say” by The Notations, a progression of notes from the sample muffles in the background, while the bass and drums introduce Dacey’s upbeat rhythms that send you bopping throughout the collection. The EP turns sombre, with layers of heartbreak melancholia in the mellow tracks “See Thru Me” and “Night Calls.” Recounting a story of infidelity, lingering feelings, and finding one’s way through the acceptance of a failing relationship, the guitar feels soft, intimate yet definitive, acting in perfect harmony with Andrada’s laid-back and lush vocals in expressing sentiments of being on a phone call with someone upon whom you are still hung.
The EP wraps up with the seventh and final track — the bemusingly endearing “Broccoli’s Keeper.” When asked to go in-depth about the track, Andrada noted, “I wrote that song based off of Amy Winehouse’s song “Addicted” and we have similar concepts but it’s just about how sometimes you gotta be stingy with your weed.” The track itself feels like freeing yourself from the woes of the relationship, and being able to spend an evening to yourself blowing “Them clouds in the sky.” As a bonus, we also get to experience this joy embodied by the band’s guitarist in a full broccoli outfit in a music video, released in October 2020. —Anhi Tran
