Darian Donovan Thomas — A Room With Many Doors DAY

darian donovan thomas

a room with many doors: DAY

On Friday, August 29, 2025, Darian Donovan Thomas (he/him), the composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist lauded for his “bright, fresh and, in the best sense, innocent” musical approach by Steve Reich, and whose music is “a loud, sometimes overwhelming, yet always vivid, wash of harmony” (Vanessa Ague—The Road To Sound), announces his new record A Room With Many Doors: Day, via New Amsterdam Records. AWRMD: Day is a companion piece to Thomas’ 2024 release A Room With Many Doors: Night.

A Room with Many Doors: Day is a collection of 9 songs written by and produced by Thomas over a span of 10 years which represent the culmination of his experiences in “romantic field research.” A prequel to Thomas’ 2024 release ARWMD: Night, ARWMD: Day catches Thomas in the midst of the experiences which led to Night’s themes of healing and self acceptance. Through the lens of glitched out, hyper-pop, ambient-drenched, and elaborate song structures, ARWMD: Day tells tales of jumping into the flames, making mistakes, adjusting, learning, and ultimately growing.

Thomas’ sonic palette of masterfully effected violins, vibrant synths, and his entrancing voice are supported by a cast of fellow collaborators: Ian Chang (Son Lux), Talk Bazaar, Ben Sloan, Kitba, Michael Haldeman, Sam Amidon, Panther Hollow, Petros Klampanis, and Lesley Mok.

“This is where the Room With Many Doors thing actually came from: All these different genres are happening in a row and whereas I think the record sequence is a good straight line, I'm very okay with people coming in from wherever they're comfortable.”
The opening delay drenched, granular, and spacious violins that blossom like flowers of ‘safe space’ slowly set the stage for Thomas’ voice to declare his intentions for this record “make a safe space, please make a safe space for me.” Thomas wanted to share a “surface level introspection” to start the record. “Safe Space was a song that came out really quickly as I was processing some feelings one night.It sounded completely different from what it is on the album — It was on toy piano with me just barely singing along — yet it became a mission statement of the whole thing: just figuring out a place to self-assess, to strengthen, to train emotionally and mentally so that when I'm in situations with other people it can be handled better.”
As the song opens up, Thomas’ production comes into full focus with pulsing drums, shimmering pads, interwoven vocals, and myriad ear candies.
The videogame score inspired ‘Testing Center’ (featuring Brooklyn-based Talk Bazaar) retells a trip to a planned parenthood in Brooklyn. Capturing the anxieties experienced by LGBTQIA+ communities around intersecting issues of identity, health, and safety, Thomas’ gentle voice soothes those anxieties in lullaby-like fashion. High speed arpeggios are met with bit crushing and glitches as the song dissolves into chaotic noise.
‘HereThere’ recounts a long distance relationship Thomas was a part of during a long touring period before his move from Texas to New York. Glitched and driving percussion mimic the intense feelings conjured during a high intensity emotional experience with another person and the push and pull of short term romance.
Originally written for voice, guitar, and string quartet, ‘Fluorescence’ is reimagined as full speed-late night neon streams by drummer Ben Sloan’s driving break, harpist Kitba’s flowing arpeggios, and Thomas on synths, production, and voice.
“‘Mr. & Mr. Married’ was mostly Mike Haldeman,” says Thomas of the guitarist's contribution to the song. Haldeman had posted a clip online with “beautiful fields of sounds” which intrigued Thomas to try singing this song over top of it. Sam Amidon provided added banjo textures. The lush soundscape frames a dream; Thomas explains: “Mr. & Mr. Married was a dream, an idea of this person, but they were not ready to pursue anything, of course, which also is a big theme on the record. This recurring theme of me being like ‘we can do it’ and others being like 'no’.”
A stylistic pivot brings us to the pop-punk inspired ‘OhNo’ (featuring Panther Hollow). What starts out as a soft spoken tale of infidelity grows into a full on head-bagning rock song reflective of the anger and hurt felt on the receiving end of such an experience. “The actual song was written the night that all of that happened. It just fell out very fast because I was pissed,” explains Thomas. “The song is not only to the audience but also to my future self — a reminder: ‘let's not come back here again.’”
The free flowing ‘Purple Flowers’ features moving performances by bassist Petros Klampanis and drummer Lesley Mok that culminate in a driving, explosive, and industrial peak littered with emotional drops, flowing violins, and Thomas’ powerful chorus. “I really like when the very straight ahead groove comes in on Purple Flowers,” says Thomas, “because it's so out of left field. That whole section is just such a series of strong choices. It's kind of me getting my stubbornness out, like I don't want it to be normal, even though it's already not a normal song.”
Album closer ‘Microcosm Friend’ is a deconstruction of pop structure as Thomas explains “I really love structuring things out and Microcosm Friend is precisely a song. There's intro, there's verses, there's chorus, and it moves in the order it should—but it doesn't sound like it—it sounds crazy. The song falls apart and explodes, there’s weird looping suddenly happening.” Lyrically the song is a representation of a discussion Thomas had with another person about defining a relationship and the troubles that come with such a definition.

Tracklist
1. safe space
2. Ugly Betty
3. Testing Center
4. HereThere
5. Fluorescents
6. Mr & Mr Married
7. OhNo
8. Purple Flower
9. Microcosm Friend
Credits
- safe space: Darian Donovan Thomas - all
- Ugly Betty: Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, Strings, Production | Ian Chang - Drums
- Testing Center: Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, Production | Talk Bazaar - guitars, synth
- HereThere: Darian Donovan Thomas - all
- Fluorescents: Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, production | Ben Sloan - Drums, Percussion Production | Kitba - Harp
- Mr & Mr Married: Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, production | Haldeman - Guitars/soundscapes | Sam Amidon - Fiddle, Banjo
- OhNo: Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, guitar, Production | Panther Hollow - guitars, Drums, bass
- Purple Flower:Darian Donovan Thomas - Voice, guitar, Production | Petros Klampanis - bass | Lesley Mok - Drums
- Microcosm Friend: Darian Donovan Thomas - all
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 recorded by Darian Donovan Thomas
Tracks 5, 6, & 9 recorded by Jesse Bielenberg
Track 7 recorded by Matti Dunietz
Mixed by: Darian Donovan Thomas
Mastered by: Angel Marcloid - Angel Hair Audio, LLC