Track Of The Day The Suncharms
After a short, yet intense running period between 1989 and 1993, leaving behind a couple of undervalued EPs on Norwich’s Wilde Club Records, home also of early Catherine Wheel, a Peel Session and some memorable gigs, The Suncharms, the Indie / Shoegaze band out of Sheffield, UK fronted by vocalist Marcus Palmer seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
A growing cult interest over the first decade of the 2000s among collectors and bloggers, Cloudberry label in particular, for all that C-86, Neo-Acoustic, Jangle pop and all around, I myself noticed their constant presence in several lists, especially from Japan, prompting the band to get back on track and the rest is history: a couple of singles with renowned indie labels such as Shiny Happy Records and Slumberland Records up to the long-anticipated debut LP, “Distant Lights”, in 2021 via Chicago‘s independent imprint Sunday Records.
I had the real pleasure of interviewing Marcus at the beginning of 2017, brimming with enthusiasm for a, perhaps, unexpected return; it still seems quite interesting to me… here is the link.
Over the weekend The Suncharms announced their sophomore album, titled “Things Lost”, due October 27, 2023, once again through the Illinois label, teased by the first single “3.45.”, a stirring blend of cradling glockenspiel-like gently chiming inflections and languorously ruminative, scratching 6-string chords, reminiscent of Low or Galaxy 500, along with a 70s-tinged poignant, evocative guitar solo, somehow far from the shoegazing dreamy textures and shimmering jangly tones some might expect, but that the group had already suggested.
Vintage rustles of vinyl elicit a remote yet lingering feeling of bittersweet nostalgia that blurs in forlorn lost timeless melodies etched by distorted and jagged guitar riffs, punctuated by steady light percussions and a somberly pulsing bass line, to weave fuzzy scrapings of reflective blues, layered with subtly twinkling tinny keys, swirling keyboard glows and heart-wrenching winding leads, wailing hopelessly over dreamy melancholic vocals, and distant lonesome haloes, aching in desperate memories of telling a special someone goodbye.
The Suncharms‘ second LP, “Things Lost”, is slated for release, in 12″ Vinyl /CD & Digital formats, on October 27, 2023 via Sunday Records.Keep up with The Suncharms:
