You Put Me On This Vacation

The Morning Benders “All Day Daylight”

There are times when you need to escape, but you don’t get the opportunity to do so. Other times, you get a chance to get away, but despite the change of scenery, you can’t avoid stress and expectations. The character in “All Day Daylight” was in the former category, but is now in the latter, and as much as he’d like to relax in the summer sun of somewhere on the other side of the globe, he can’t shake off his self-consciousness. He’s not agitated, and it’s not a bad trip. It’s never stated outright, but it seems like he is just realizing that as valuable as it can be to get out of your element, the pressure to relax in an unfamiliar place isn’t exactly a remedy for unhappiness. Still, this song is more about pleasure than feeling uncomfortable. The music is a paradise of gentle reverb and understated guitar hooks, the chorus is huge and inviting, despite its undercurrent of cynicism. It’s easy to see why they made this into a song about the summer and vacations — it sounds warm, wide-open, and exciting.

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