Welcome to April, friends! This is Crysteaux reporting back from the musical journey happening in my 1° auditory cortex against the current backdrop of slowly melting snow in the mountains coexisting with cherry blossoms enlivening the empty office parks and repopulating playgrounds below. Y’all are both beautiful–never change.

WARNING: no pun intended, but the springboard for my spring picks has been a playlist I approached with caution in my determination to soak up everything that is Sloan Struble, the 21-year-old bedroom pop sensation aka Dayglow whose 2019 album captured my heart and whose singles this year sent it to blissful solitary confinement. His 2020 Favorites playlist is part-cutting-edge, part-oldies, and really serves to reveal the musical influences behind Dayglow. In addition to the pedestrian task of showcasing new artists, the list has also unearthed some of my forgotten favorites, deepened my appreciation of artists I already liked, and changed my mind about some I was prejudiced against. Hats off to Sloan!

At the same time I’ve also gotten more in touch with my inner Sensitive Millennial Male Urbanite with Gen Z Leanings these days–“Z-curious,” I might describe it. This ZC listener probably knows how to cook, considers himself a pacifist, appreciates Wes Anderson, and most importantly, wears clothes that fit. In other words, Tan France would approve.

OK, who am I kidding? I only meet one of those criteria–take a guess if you wish. When I listen to Dayglow’s discography and his cited influences, I meet not only the man behind the music but also the parents behind the man. Though only 21, Sloan Struble implants in me someone else’s memories of going to the diner with your best friends at midnight in New York City in 1991, patting their taxi goodbye as it takes off for the night while a street busker plays the sax without an accompanying track, maybe even meeting an attractive stranger at Barnes & Noble that same weekend a la Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks types donning autumn trench coats. His playlist makes me miss karaoke’s power to scoop up everyone’s fondest memories into one kaleidoscopic slice of humanity.

You know that sudden investigative reporter-detective-superhero motivation that kicks in when you develop a crush as a youngster? That’s my modus operandi with musical artists, except the obsession has a delayed release; I discovered Dayglow just about a year ago, and it turns out that replaying his debut, Fuzzybrain, for weeks on end was only the beginning of my obsession.

What kicked it into high-gear? Followers of hip, gen-Z-targeted Spotify playlists with smooth-faced teens and/or succulents on the cover might’ve caught “Close to You” in its squeaky-clean 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Its spare verses bubble into a glittering refrain that echoes an affliction much commiserated over in the interwebs: overthinking, but with a positive spin that defines Dayglow. His songs and persona exude an unadulterated joy and simplicity that draws in fans who know authenticity when they see it. Though steeped in 80s nostalgia, his projects neither overuse musical tropes nor break new ground, but rather occupy a massively appealing soft-rock middle ground that I believe will stand the test of time, much like the oldies (and pseudo-oldies) from which he draws inspiration. His sophomore LP is due at the end of May, so in the wake of his singles I’ve been hunting for my Dayglow fix wherever I can find it.

Are you a Sloan Stan too? Let’s gush together. Or just leave a comment if you’ve ever experienced that all-consuming desperation to slurp up everything an artist has produced and everything that has touched them.