Birthdays – ‘Birthdays’
Posted under: 
Birthdays are having a party. There will be bright flashes of color, arms wildly thrusting into the air, and sweat dripping around the bends of radiating smiles. And you don’t need to find the Boston natives for an invitation. All you need is Birthday‘s self-titled debut and the time to escape into a world where everything is fantastic all of the time.
Sonically, Birthdays is a cheery rush of dance pop led by Sammy Yager, overtly positive and charmingly lo-fi all the while. The majority of the release consists of upbeat jams that would turn a cramped house party upside-down, whereas the last track serves as a leisurely cool down.
Serendipitously enough, Birthdays and Little Spoon (the personal project of Cameron Potter, who plays drums in the band) are on a party across the US all October—check out their dates here. For now Birthdays is streamable on Bandcamp, but soon it will be available on cassette from Every Day Is A Mixtape.
Sammy was kind enough to let us in on the inspiration of the record as well as his home:
This album was inspired by my friends and the bands I’ve played with while touring. I started writing a couple of these songs (specifically “mating falls” and “biggie shorty”) as my very first EP as Birthdays. I started writing and recording these two songs while I was hospitalized for gangrene and then on bed rest. The dance music I had made in the past had turned a little darker after being so sick. It turned a bit more psychedelic too. Probably from the morphine and other pain killers.
But again, the main influences are my friends and my FMLY and my partner.
I’m really happy that this release is finally out. I’m excited to work on the next album. I’ve learned soo much and am already writing the next album. It’s going to be way different.
As far as other stuff..
I live in Allston Massachusetts. It’s part of Boston. We live right near Harvard. I love it here. I live across the street from Dreamhouse where my best friend Cameron (Little Spoon) lives. There’s a bunch of fun stuff going on all the time. I’ve been vegan for 10 years. Many of my friends are vegan also. We have a bunch of awesome exclusively vegan restaurants in our neighborhood. It’s great.
Lately, my role in our friend group is that I set the standard for the slang we use. I make up silly terms or rhymes or just choose old slang. My new favorite is “Jumpin Off” to be used if something is exciting or really good in general. Cameron and I often make at least 1 meal together a day and have been practicing every day for this tour. Cameron plays drums in Birthdays and synth and additional vocals. I get to name the stuffed animals in the Little Spoon set.. Which is more important than playing any instrument, if you ask me.
I also got the chance to get a quick update from Cameron Potter on his involvement in the band:
well it started as a solo thing, then i joined the band but then went on little spoon tours for like 8 months straight and he couldn’t leave boston so it went back to a solo thing. but we’re back together now, touring as a two piece.
