Kevin Bronson on July 16th, 2021

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Full disclosure: One way to get an Anglophile music nerd’s attention in your introduction is to name-check early-’90s popgazers Adorable.

There’s some of that, along with British music acolytes such as the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, in “Bunny,” the first single from L.A. duo the Birthdays. The project is a collaboration between Ben Grey of Dear Boy and Jackson Phillips of Day Wave, who became pals while touring back in 2017 and finally carved out some time to work together.

“I think we were both just eager and curious to hear what a ‘Grey Wave’ song would actually sound like,” Grey says. “It’s its own fuzzy, melodic, interesting thing that I don’t think sounds like anything else happening right now.”

“We did a lot of conceptual world building before we broke any ground on the project. … Not that we had any choice in the matter, but it actually ended up being a really cool way of approaching this thing,” he adds. “Jackson and I have been good friends for a while but this is the first time we’ve started a piece of music from scratch. He’s a genius person, so it’s incredibly inspirational working with him.”

The duo promise there’s more music from the collaboration. In the meantime, Dear Boy has signed to Last Gang Records and is prepping their debut album, and, in between various production projects, Phillips is at work on the follow-up to Day Wave’s “Crush” EP.

||| Stream: “Bunny”