ARTISTS

Dæva

Gigi Mead

Genre: Synth Pop / Post-Chillwave / Post-Witch House
Home: Brooklyn, New York, USA (via) Virginia, USA
For Fans Of: Bjork

Bandcamp | Instagram

Press Photos at bottom of page

Biography

Dæva (pronounced day-va) is the solo experimental pop act of Gigi Mead. Dæva resides in Brooklyn, NY with their cat Aubrey where they cast spells, sling books, and write songs. Their debut album ‘Beta Persei’ collects 10 songs of love, loss, and X-Files. It was released November 25th 2016 digitally worldwide, as well as on limited edition cassette via Furious Hooves. Dæva’s song “Dream” was included on Gorilla vs. Bear’s “Best Songs of 2013” end of year list.

Mead spoke with Impose Magazine about their moniker and more back in 2016. “Dæva is a phrase from the ancient Avestan language, loosely meaning demon, while the term ‘Beta Persei’ refers to a star known as Algol, or the demon star, in the Perseus constellation. I like to think that Dæva is my wild/raw identity and Beta Persei is the magic space I create and am born from. I wrote ‘Beta Persei’ during my senior year of college, when I was living alone for the first time. It’s very much about who I am when I’m by myself — daydreaming, or feeling lonely, or nostalgic, or in love. I wrote, recorded, mixed and mastered the entire album from my bed. The track list is in chronological order of when I wrote each song and you can hear the production quality and music styles shift dramatically over the course of the album as I experiment and teach myself along the way. ‘Beta Persei’ is also about the healing process after ending a long-term relationship and discovering femme/queer empowerment and independence through music.”

Dæva has performed live at a number of venues, houses, in and around Brooklyn, NY – not to mention a 2021 livestream set from their own bed, undoubtedly the very same where ‘Beta Persei’ was written and engineered upon.

Press & Accolades

Gorilla vs. Bear’s “Best Songs of 2013” featuring Dæva’s song “Dream.”
“Dream” from ‘Beta Persei’ LP was included in BIRP!’s January 2017 Playlist.

“Here's a glittery, ethereal dream-pop gem from Brooklyn's Gigi Mead, aka Dæva: "Dream" is the opening track from [their] beautifully vaporous, two-years-in-the-making, X-Files-inspired debut LP ‘Beta Persei’, which has provided a very welcome and chill (and even occasionally danceable) escapist vibe for us these past few nights.”
– Gorilla vs. Bear, review of “Dream” from ‘Beta Persei’ LP.

“Lush and downright fantastical, Dæva's single "Dream" is exactly the after-hours escape you need.”
– The Grey Estates, premiere of “Dream” from ‘Beta Persei’ LP.

“…emotions pushing in with tangible weight but diminishing upon closer inspection, like bright lights visiting your patch of sky before passing on, zipping up and away to wherever such things go, leaving only the slow creep of melancholy and a latent anxious twitch.”
– Various Small Flames, premiere of “Ache” from ‘Beta Persei’ LP.