B-Side Guys

Ojahara’s “The Days” collapses time into endless loop, the titular phrase repeating until it loses meaning—or gains too much. That circular structure mirrors the lyrical content perfectly: days that “go round and round” until they wear you out, wear you down, blur into indistinguishable sequence where nothing progresses, everything just continues.

The baroque-pop arrangement channels the Zombies’ melodic sophistication while keeping everything hushed, almost whispered. Ojahara’s vocal delivery carries Elliott Smith’s intimacy, that sense of being overheard rather than performed for. The production ornaments the melancholy without overwhelming it, keyboards and strings adding texture to what remains fundamentally simple, repetitive, trapped.

What makes this work is how the song locates hope not in breaking the cycle but in finding temporary relief within it. “Maybe you’ll be my daydream / You’ll help me through to night” doesn’t promise transformation, just assistance getting through another rotation. The daydream functions as survival mechanism, brief respite before days resume their exhausting circuit. Even that momentary comfort comes with built-in expiration: “when you turn to go you’ll say, hey / The days go round and round.”

That final repetition hits differently after the verse—confirmation rather than complaint. The days will keep rotating regardless of human intervention, companionship, or desire. Ojahara doesn’t rage against this or pretend we can escape it. Just acknowledges the weight of repetition and the small mercies that make it bearable, even temporarily.

For slowcore that understands how monotony feels heavier than drama, this captures existential fatigue without theatrics.