Otto Aday has released his debut album Persona on Dave Stewart’s Bay Street Records label

Otto Aday has released his debut album Persona on Dave Stewart’s Bay Street Records label

OTTO ADAY – PERSONA

Otto Aday has finally released his debut album Persona on Dave Stewart’s record label Bay Street Records. It’s a triumph of music, elegant and sophisticated songwriting and blending nostalgic and romantic themes with the modern world. We’ve been following Otto’s journey ever since he won a competition to work with Dave Stewart several years ago. The album is co-produced with Dave Stewart and features 12 tracks, 3 of which are co-written with Dave as well. Many of Dave’s Nashville Players who have graced his solo albums over the years also took part in the recording sessions.

Agnostic of eras and genres, London-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Otto Aday encapsulates blissfully nostalgic melodies, British rock ‘n’ roll energy and cinematic scope spiked with a bit of sixties psychedelia. Each of these features anchor his debut 12-song LP, Persona, out today via Bay Street Records. “Dancing Round The Morning Sun,” the album’s quintessential focus track, along with its accompanying eccentric music video, directed by Myles Docherty, perfectly captures Otto’s artistic essence.

“Dancing Round The Morning Sun” circles a melodic electric guitar riff as handclaps underline the momentum and usher the song towards a chantable chorus. On the hook, he urges, “Swear that it will all work out.” “As you go about life, you definitely uncover pieces of yourself you may not be so keen on,” Otto explains. “You have to brush past those moments and move forward. So, the song is about finding the right pieces of yourself and assembling them to become the version of you who you would like to be.”

“I started the song writing about my childhood, thinking back on memories of hide and seek and how easy life was.” Otto elaborates. “The verses are about the impurities and hardships that get in the way of that easy life. In the video the dancers’ costumes are based on tarot cards as a way to symbolize the parts of you that you find as you grow through those hardships.”

During 2022, Otto decamped to Nashville, TN where he recorded the bulk of the album in the span of a week. “Making music is all about growth,” he observes. “I’m always changing a little, but this music feels classic to me. It has a light country undertone and beautiful strings. The goal was to create a timeless sound.” “Each song on the album is about a moment or a person that left an impression on my life,” Otto states. “These songs are the breadcrumbs of these moments that I’m leaving behind.”

Otto Aday Persona | 7110 - Dave Stewart And Otto Aday - Persona - Worldwide - Download - 01

PERSONA TRACKLISTING:
“Dancing Round The Morning Sun”
“Fall Apart”
“Star Crossed Lovers”
“Cast Away”
“Realign”
“Boy All In Blue”
“Stay Awhile”
“-STOP-”
“Hate My Mind”
“Hearts”
“Heard You’re Leaving”
“Blue Moon”

After building buzz independently with his alternative spirit, Otto Aday attracted international icon, Dave Stewart, “I realised immediately he’s a very creative and interesting songwriter with a great voice,” says Stewart. “In the songwriting and singing world, he’s the whole package. His unique character, emotions, and storytelling are really embedded in the album. This is the moment it all came together for him artistically. He knows exactly what he can do.”

Otto Aday’s Persona album leads with the single, “Star Crossed Lovers” (released August 16) — co-written with award-winning icon Dave Stewart — and its strikingly scenic music video sets the scene as the guitar wraps around luminous piano chords above a delicate beat. Big screen-worthy strings accent his swooning intonation as he observes, “The moon’s been out forever, makes us feel so small.” Malvika Paldin with Earmilk praised “Star Crossed Lovers” noting, “…the expansive production is bolstered by poignant lyricism and compelling visuals that add more layers to the striking yet soulful number… Comforting and dreamy all at once, the track comes alive as an anthem that captures quiet but romanticized moments in our lives, giving us an alluring peek at his 12-track project set to explore relationships and moments with people as well as the impressions they’ve left in his life.”

The sophomore single from the record, “Hearts” (released September 15), hinges on sparse piano and evocative vocals. Co-written with Stewart in a Soho hotel room, it unspools towards a dramatic crescendo punctuated by his emotionally charged refrain, “That’s what breaks our hearts,” before a hummable guitar solo cries out. The song arrived with an introspective performance-style music video filmed in famed “Studio Two” at Abbey Road Studios, the legendary room that captured the bulk of The Beatles catalog, among many other acclaimed albums. In fact, Otto is captured performing the song on the treasured Mrs. Mills piano which was the go-to piano used by The Beatles. While in the Abbey Road studio, Otto recorded five acoustic versions of songs from Persona that are set to be released in tandem with the studio album.

The two singles and their respective music videos have amassed over 550k views on YouTube. “Star Crossed Lovers” quickly gained over 45k streams on Spotify alone and continues to rise. The single also saw three weeks on BBC Radio Wales A-List, with the hosts praising, “It sounds utterly brilliant… like Queen or David Bowie. Such a stunning track.”

 

Otto Aday Persona Album Release - Dave Stewart - Bay Street Records

“I’m so fucking happy,” Otto says. “I can’t wait to share this with everyone. I’m also excited to see where it leads me. I’ve got bright eyes for the future.”

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