SPOTLIGHT: Daisychain’s Debut Album ‘All In A Name’ is a Genre-Bending Psych Rock Knockout
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY KIMBERLY KAPELA ☆
Photography Credit: Vicki Holda
BEHIND THE SCENES OF ALL IN A NAME — Chicago-based femme-fronted psych rock trio Daisychain makes a bold and magnetic entrance with their debut album All In A Name, a ten-track kaleidoscope of soul-soaked rock and cosmic experimentation. Produced by legendary engineer and producer Sylvia Massy, the project showcases Daisychain’s expansive musical range and unshakable creative bond.
The trio—Nickole Regala (bass, vocals), Frankie Sripada ( guitar) and Sophia Williams (guitar, vocals)—has spent years sharpening their sound in Chicago’s DIY and underground circuits. Now, with All In A Name, they present their most cohesive and exploratory work yet. Recorded during a three-week creative sabbatical at Massy’s Ashland, Oregon-based studio, the record pulls from a kaleidoscope of influences to create something that feels completely their own.
Daisychain arrived with nearly 100 demos in hand, and under Massy’s guidance, they whittled them down to the ten strongest tracks. Known for her experimental production style and fearless approach to sound, Massy offered Daisychain a safe and collaborative space to push boundaries and unearth new textures. “Sylvia really understood how to highlight each of our strengths,” Regala says. “She didn’t try to mold us into anything we weren’t—she just helped us become more of ourselves.”
“The experience really catapulted us into a different style of writing than we would normally do, but it gave us opportunity to really experiment and evolve things that maybe we wouldn't normally have done, or had the time to do, or the drive to do,” the band shares.
The album’s lead single “Waste Your Time” explores the emotional messiness of unrequited love. “This song is about someone wanting to get involved with another who doesn’t necessarily want them back,” Sripada says. Citing inspiration from 90s English shoegaze pioneers Catherine Wheel and garage-pop shapeshifter Ty Segall, the track is steeped in longing but built on danceable grooves. Sripada first brought the instrumental framework, and the rest followed organically.
This method of songwriting—collaborative, fluid and deeply intuitive—runs throughout All In A Name. Each track attests to the band’s chemistry and ability to pick up where one another leaves off, crafting a mosaic of individual taste and collective expression.
Drawing inspiration from the gritty psych of The Black Angels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the rip-roaring, droney standout track from “Rivers” launches the band’s sound into a new dimension—one where blues-soaked riffs, hypnotic bass, and towering layers of guitar flow organically.
The recording process, guided by Massy, amplified the band’s vision to full effect. “Recording this one was really cool because Sylvia wanted a big wall of sound,” recalls Sripada. “She beefed up the bass with heavy overdrive and layered the guitars, making for a really engaging listening experience.” And that wall of sound delivers. “Rivers” doesn’t just move—it surges.
Regala describes the record as “a celebration of who we are today,” a snapshot of three artists navigating growth, change, and womanhood in real time. “All In A Name will always represent to me the discipline, vulnerability, and humility it takes to make a great album,” she reflects. “Whether it was the intensity of the writing process, the three-week recording sabbatical, or life just life-ing us, this album feels like us, which is why I can’t stop listening to it.”
From the start, Daisychain’s mission has never been about fitting into one genre or sound. Instead, the trio has always leaned into variety—pulling from blues, garage rock, dreamy psychedelia and soulful pop—to create music that reflects the multitudes they each carry. With All In A Name, that kaleidoscopic vision comes into sharper focus.
“The drive behind this album was really trying to elaborate on our very diverse sound,” Williams says. “From the beginning, we had a bunch of different expressions and tones and experimented with different ideas. I think this is a more matured, a little more cohesive version of that same diversity. I think it has definitely shown our evolution.”
That evolution isn’t just heard sonically—it’s rooted in deep personal connection and trust. Across the album’s ten tracks, listeners can hear the result of years spent learning each other’s rhythms, building confidence and evolving together. For Sripada, that collaborative spirit is what makes All In A Name so unique.
“It’s like a testament to the fruits of collaboration between men and women,” Sripada shares. “Some people very much wall themselves off from those they collaborate with, but getting to know people for so long definitely yields great things.”
At its core, All In A Name is a powerful declaration of self, a record that fuses the band’s tight-knit bond with their fiercely versatile sound, and with All In A Name, Daisychain arrives fully formed and wholly themselves.
Photography Credit: Vicki Holda
