Daydrunk

About the Artist

Daydrunk is the creative project of Australian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kieran Schembri, built around honesty, nostalgia and the sound of real instruments played by real people in a room. After years playing in bands and writing music while life slowly filled up with marriage, children and a demanding hospitality career, Kieran kept quietly writing. Late at night and on days off, he built a catalogue of hundreds of songs, holding himself to one rule: they had to work with nothing but a guitar or a piano. No production tricks, no shortcuts — just craft, melody and story. Over time, that discipline became the foundation of Daydrunk. When Kieran finally built a small home studio, he recorded his favourite songs himself, playing every instrument live into microphones: acoustic and electric guitars, drums, pianos, organs, banjo, ukulele, bass and layered vocals. The goal was never perfection, but texture — the feeling of musicians in a room, breaths between phrases, fingers on strings, and the warmth of imperfect takes that feel human. Lyrically, Daydrunk draws heavily from family life and the small emotional moments that sit between routine and memory. Songs like Am I Wrong This Time, Nothing Was In Your Way and I Don’t Understand explore love, doubt, parenthood and change — arguments that linger, children learning to sleep in their own beds, and watching a partner grow into their own confidence while fearing what that growth might mean. Musically, the project lives somewhere between intimate folk and expansive alternative rock, influenced by artists like Wilco, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Neil Young, The Beatles, Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire and Smashing Pumpkins. There’s a love for classic songwriting, but also for unusual time signatures, layered arrangements and sounds that feel slightly warped, ambient and nostalgic. With multiple singles released and a 12-track album Life Weather ready to follow, Daydrunk is about building something slowly and truthfully: music that feels like a memory, sounds like people in a room, and stays with you long after the last note fades.