Emotional and Melodic: Daffo's Music Captures The Direction The Indie Scene Is Heading

Photo by Sam Penn

With a sound reminiscent of Phoebe Bridgers and Adrienne Lenker, Daffo is rising into the indie music scene with great success. Emotional and vulnerable lyrics sung by a soft voice with grungy guitar instrumentals are what give the band their distinct sound. The music makes you feel like you are experiencing the angst lead singer and writer Gabi Gamberg has gone through.

Gamberg says their music is inspired by all aspects of their life and their drive to make music comes from their need to express themselves. “I feel like everything I experience seeps into my songs at some point or another: people, places, things, blah blah blah. Most of the time it’s just my pain though. I would say pretty much all of my songs that are out come from a place of pain.”

The singer and writer channels their emotions into song. “I’m a very emotional person, so (the emotions) have to go somewhere… a lot of things are unspoken and it's hard to describe the way you feel. Music allows you to process what you are going through easier than if it was just talking."

Gamberg uses music to “fill in the gaps of communication” with both those around them and with themselves. Gamberg says their song “Complete Circle” effectively uses its verses filled with elaborate imagery to communicate a feeling they would struggle to describe conventionally. “The movement of the chords, the breathiness. I wrote and recorded it in one night. And we didn’t even try to re-record the demo, because all the feeling was there in the first recording. It was fresh.”

The way Gamberg channels their emotions in Daffo is what makes their music authentic and particularly moving. “Complete Circle,” a song that highlights their breathy voice with tranquil harmonies, is just one of them. Gamberg says that all of their music serves as a way for them to stop “intellectualizing” their emotions and just feel them for what they are. 

Gamberg writes for themself. They use writing and performance as a way to process thoughts and feelings that “come from a place of pain.” Through this, they find people with similar experiences coming to shows.