Photo Credit: Santiago Dietche
"The Austin, TX-based five-piece make unhurried, expansive indie-rock songs that are delicately, almost psychedelically stretched out; time, for them, is less a constraint as much as it is a new instrument to play with, a form to bend and subvert."
-The FADER
-The FADER
"Sun June's music is something that comes in snatches, wisps that captivate and escape the ear with all the airy weight of dust rising from an Austin floorboard on every beat of a muffled drum."
-NPR
"Dreamy and wonderfully considered rock songs."
-Stereogum
"Embracingly warm harmonies and judiciously employed reverb."
-Consequence of Sound
-Consequence of Sound
"Distinctive, gently twangy dream-pop"
-Gorilla vs Bear
Austin, TX's Sun June have shared a stunning video for their new single "Bad Girl," the latest from their upcoming new album Somewhere. FLOOD Magazine, who premiered the video and profiled the band today, is calling it "dusty-trail dream-pop which longingly looks back on the freedom of Colwell's teenage years."
Of the song and video, Sun June's Laura Colwell says "Bad Girl is about a deep manic drive to regress into the person I used to be - back when being bad was cool and being cool was everything. I was given a lot of freedom as a teenager and always took advantage of it. After I lost a good friend in high school, my fear of death was overwhelming. The song reflects on how that fear combined with my own thrill-seeking affected my decisions since. It cycles through self-destructive choices I've made in relationships to avoid responsibility, and how my fear of loss has lead me down some dumb paths. The tone is sad and resigned, but also self-righteous somehow.
There's something pushing and pulling between the lyrics and the beat, so we thought a dance video might draw out some internal tension. We filmed around Lockhart, TX, where we recorded the album, because there are so many farms and fields out there that are unchanged despite the area's growth. We took some inspiration from films like "Blood Simple" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," which were also shot in rural towns just outside of Austin. Basically, we tried to channel Frances McDormand, Willie Nelson, and Haim (if Haim were an only child)."
Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June's sound, a record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward that is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.
Sun June's Somewhere is available for pre-order now and out February 5th, 2021 via Run For Cover and Keeled Scales.
Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury met in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas while working on Terrence Malick's film Song to Song. Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and released their debut album, Years, in 2018. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, the band coined the term 'regret pop,' a perfect descriptor for the music they make- the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs are seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase is always grasping for something just out of reach.
Somewhere, Sun June's new album is a record that feels distinctly present. In the time since the release of their debut, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it's had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. "We explore a lot of the same themes across it," Colwell says, "but I think there's a lot more love here."
Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing.
They've called this one their 'prom' record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. "The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn't done before," the band explains. " Prom isn't all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss - all the highs and all the lows."
It's in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell's voice is mesmerizing throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there's still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track 'Bad With Time' sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. "I didn't mean what I said," Colwell sings. "But I wanted you to think I did."
SUN JUNE
SOMEWHERE
RUN FOR COVER/KEELED SCALES
FEBRUARY 5, 2021
1. Bad With Time
2. Everything I Had
3. Singing
4. Bad Girl
5. Karen O
6. Everywhere
7. Once in a While
8. Finding Out
9. Seasons
10. Real Thing
11. Colors
Twitter @sunjunemusic | Instagram @sunjunemusic
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