Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week we have a collection of songs put together by Burlington-based artist Zack James of the project Dari Bay.

Zack has been releasing music under Dari Bay since 2015. The project began as an outlet for his own creativity to exist in its coarsest form, its early days a one-man recording endeavor yielding erratic, dreamlike sensory experiences. In 2023, Dari Bay released Longest Day of the Year, a cozy record where Zack’s experimental dexterity is filtered but certainly not abandoned, presenting itself in a more intentional and holistic form. In a tight 24 minutes, Longest Day of the Year is full of contradictions, armed with sharp edges that slice through hazy moments, nonlinear melodies and somber reflections wrestling cozy folk instrumentals. The songs are refreshing and eclectic, but their stories are familiar, as Dari Bay immortalizes fleeting moments and carves out space to celebrate the mundane.

About the playlist, Zack shared;

This is a list of songs I might wanna listen to in the van after our show. Usually in this scenario I’ve got that post-show adrenaline rush and I wanna entertain my bandmates and keep the lighthearted vibes going. Even if the show didn’t go exactly the way we wanted, we still feel good afterwards. It’s a good time to listen to songs that I love, maybe some songs from the past that I’ve recently rediscovered, songs I’ve heard a million times or songs I just learned about. 

Listen to Zack’s playlist here;

Written by Manon Bushong | Featured Photo by Alea Doronsky