Teen Daze
Themes for Dying Earth (Flora)

As for so many of us, the anxiety and depression inherent in modern life were starting to get to Jamison Isaak (a.k.a. Teen Daze), but he wasn’t going to let them take him down. Instead, Isaak filtered his experiences and observations through an optimistic lens in an attempt to constructively rewire his neural pathways.

Written, recorded, and mixed in British Columbia so as to imbue it with the natural beauty right outside his window, Themes for Dying Earth is an intimate reflection on mental health and social responsibility. And while Isaak mourns that future generations won’t enjoy the same relationship with their environment that we do, he’s also resolved that we can do better.

While 2015’s Morning World saw Teen Daze delve into indie-pop forms, Themes goes farther, musically and thematically, hinting at the ambient electronic core of his earlier works but with an invigorated live energy, marked by impressive collaborations with the likes of Sean Carey, Dustin Wong, and Sound of Ceres.

We may still be doomed, but you won’t feel that way after listening to Themes for Dying Earth.