Album Review: Full Circle by Daephne

By Hugh Schmidt

Dæphne was a heavy indie rock band from Boston, Massachusetts who announced they were going on hiatus on April 20th, 2017. Seeing the news on facebook, my heart fell. Dæphne were, to me, the Boston band. If someone asked me what bands they should check out from MA, Dæphne were always the first one I'd recommend. I say this, because Dæphne released the most important indie rock record of my life. And not only is it the most important and influential record on me as a person, but it's also, without a doubt, fucking perfect. People who know me know that I don't throw shit like that around. I am not fucking around when I say this. Every song on this EP is immaculately written, performed, and recorded. There is nothing about this record anyone could change to make it better. I've listened to it at least a few times a month since I discovered it, shortly after its release in November 2015. I haven't gotten sick of it. I don't think I ever will. Full Circle is eight tracks of grunge influenced indie rock that are all absolutely incredible. Every song stirs a feeling of nostalgia within me, where I feel like my heart is being torn out of my chest with excitement and despair at the same time. The bass fills on this are melodic, the drums are tight and exactly where they need to be, with the guitars alternating between beautiful picked leads and anthemic downpicked power chords. Alexa's voice is nothing short of gorgeous, delivering lyrics that convey real emotional struggle but with a "goddammit we're getting better" quality to them that makes Full Circle so uplifting.

Dæphne is nothing short of a Boston indie rock supergroup. This EP features vocalist Alexa Johnson, bassist Laura Brogan, guitarist Ryan Higgins, and drummer Julian Berosh. The list of bands they play in (Palehound, Dump Him, Honeymooner, Baja Blasters, Banana) and have played in (Bright Red Reason, The Daydream Impression, Rictus Grin, Sexy Coyote, The Michael Character, etc) is fucking ridiculous. They're some of the hardest working people in MA indie rock and it shows: this is a record made by people at the top of their game. Full Circle defined high school for me, and no other release makes me feel the way it does. The guitar solo in "Peach" is so absolutely beautiful that whenever it comes on I have to stop whatever I'm doing and just listen. I can't think of a band that sounds like Dæphne. It's familiar yet so unique. The songwriting, lyricism, production, performance, fucking everything you can think of that makes a record stand out is all here, contained within eight beautiful tracks. Full Circle changed my life, and I hope it touches you the same way it touched me.

https://daephneboston.bandcamp.com/album/full-circle