Sonny and the Sunsets debut album Tomorrow Is Alright is way more than alright. Sonny Smith’s debut echoes that well-worn San Francisco sound of now with that barely-trying-but-still sounding-classic-and-chill effortless effort. Smith has been lucky enough to have as his Sunsets various members of Thee Oh Sees, Tahlia Harbour of Citay and The Dry Spells, Shayde Sartin and Tim Cohen of the Fresh & Onlys, Ryan Browne, and the amazing producer and solo artist in his own right, the incredible Kelley Stoltz. We’ll talk about his upcoming album a bit later.
Check out their track “Lovin’ an Older Gal” from Tomorrow Is Alright. Tahlia Harbour from Citay and The Dry Spells does some great responses with the Sunsets to Sonny’s lazy calls of “Well you know Sunsets…something special about another gal…it’s like she’s been around you know, it’s like some things don’t impress her…it’s like you got be on your toes around this gal…and I can kinda like that…yeah, kinda turns me on,” with collective and conversational responses of, “what’s that Sonny?…yeah, Sonny…uh huh…yeah…on your toes…you do… kinda like that?” It has that Ocean Beach feel where you’ve spent the day getting sunburned, an afternoon crush, get denied, pass out, wake up in time for the campfire gathering before the park rangers douse the fire and then you're left to stumble in search of a 71 MUNI back to downtown. It also evokes those weirdo blokes on the revivalist circuit who are so perpetual retrowave they only date chicks that can tell you firsthand what the 60s were all about. “They’re laughing at you and their laughing at me, all the kids on the scene, they act so cold, they don’t know our lovin’ tree from a telephone pole.”
Curious to hear Kelley Stoltz’s upcoming release To Dreamers due October 12 on Sub Pop. Most of the good folks here on the Bay have been excited for this release for sometime now. Check out “I Don’t Get That” and “The Sun Comes Through” to hear why. Fall is a great time for
Sonny and the Sunset’s Tomorrow Is Alright, which is on LP via Soft Abuse Records and on CD and MP3 through Fat Possum Records.
Party with them and friends on these good dates (all with Kelley Stoltz).
Sep 24 Beat Kitchen Chicago, IL
Sep 25 The Lager House Detroit, MI
Sep 26 Sneaky Dee’s Toronto, ON, CANADA
Sep 28 La Sala Rossa Montreal, Quebec, CANADA
Sep 29 TT the Bear’s Boston, Massachusets
Sep 30 The Mercury Lounge (Show starts at 630pm) New York, NY
Oct 1 Union Hall New York, NYC
Oct 3 DC9 Washington, DC
