The Endless Nest Collective recording division, Empty Cellar Records has teamed up again with Sonny Smith alongside his massive, amazing 100 7" records project, of which these tracks are sort of an extension of that project...a novel Sonny had started broke into 100 pieces and these songs were assembled from some of the pieces. All I keep thinking about Sonny is, what do you do next? You came up with 100 fictional bands singles, recorded the music, came up with, comissioned the sleeves and then played them in a custom jukebox for the gallery show? How do you top the yearlong effort of something like that? Releasing yet another single on Empty Cellar is a pretty good start. His single fever obviously hasn't been cured yet, and Sonny had enough material for a 4 track EP, collaborating with Heidi and Grace of the Sandwitches and a fictional band (?) the Transients, Sonny presents these 4 tracks which were inspired by a near death experience in the ocean. This could be super downer serious gloomy acoustic, but Sonny sounds like he's taken the opposite approach and is optimistically appreciating each minute he's still playing and recording.
Sonny even created his last will and testament in song form with the first track on the A-Side "Throw my ashes from the pier". This song is full of that warm tight delay, especially in the vocals, that classic country, bluegrass rock sound that I love from hearing early, early Elvis tracks....like Blue Moon...I know, Elvis, it's a ridiculous reference, but there's still something to hearing those raw demos of the early years. I understood why people called reverb wet. You can almost hear a 'drip' sound in the spring echo when the strings are a little muted and your strumming high on the fretboard. Sonny's coming to terms with what to do when the bucket gets kicked, and ending up scattered around in the ocean sounds pretty good. You don't want to get morbid about it, but why not on a high note, at the end of the best possible day. But why even paraphrase...Sonny gets this across in a much better way. "Through the fog and haze" is a slow trip back down to that ocean again. He's just a great songwriter...and to naturally get this introspective feel across takes a lot of commitment. The instrumentation is so minimal, he He's determined to make something good out of that experience and I can't help but read into every word of each track: Oh to behold such sorrow To behold such pain Will I never see the sun
But like Will Oldham he makes it sound so damn nice, you don't even notice the sadness creeping up. The best is how Sonny chose to keep these subtleties... the raw twang of an acoustic mispick, that imperfections that made it through for the sake of capturing the best take without cutting and pasting. But there's more than just a strong Oldham connection in the melancholy and tragedy, Will's brother, Paul mastered these tracks for Sonny.
"Cathedral in the desert" over on the B-Side has Sunny possibly thinking about a higher power's role in existence, with an upbeat track of shiny steel acoustic. "Take a hard look down that long corridor" finds Sonny way offshore and this has to be it, the big 7" in the sky, reevaluate your life pretty quick...it's the saddest sentiment and I really hope I don't even have a moment to realize it's the end and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't catch yourself singing along with this one. Sonny taught me to be glad I'm on dry land next to a record player.
I think deliberately every track changes slightly in tone, a whole different character...a new narrator with the help of subtle effects, engineering changes. Sonny's vocals go from doubled up reverb to clear, close mic'd, almost cracking vocals. I think his 100 records project has inherently always been in him, in every song he writes, putting himself into an experience with his specific point of view, and musically it's restrained and as classy as any past and contemporary country legend I can think of.
Not long ago, Sonny Smith (Sonny & The Sunsets) survived a near-drowning off the coast of northern california. The experience affected him profoundly and led to a wealth of output including a play, a novel, and a stack of songs. Sonny's critically acclaimed "100 Records" project is itself a direct product of Sonny's fight with the sea. A novel he began, "Adelard the Drowned", broke into 100 pieces. Four of those pieces come as songs on this 7" e.p., each bound to the next by a twisted braid of water and death. Through the fog and the haze, however, there lies in these songs a shared sense of redemption, transformation, or reawakening. Featuring appearances by Heidi and Grace of the The Sandwitches and a long-lost band called The Transients, this record features Sonny's songwriting at its strongest, staring death in the face. Perhaps, this is in part why the ocean gave him back. Recorded in San Francisco and mastered by Paul Oldham, each record includes a comic book, four full-color album covers, and a high-quality digital drownload.
More of Sonny's acoustic instrumentalism and a sample of the sad, personal comic, (the best kind) that comes with the single is available here:
It's another great extra level to the work and I've really never seen it work so well together.
I mentioned Sonny's Soft Abuse release a while back and this single from him caught my eye the other day, a long playing EP, from another label that looks pretty new on the scene, Future Stress Records. None of these tracks are on his myspace, as of yet. Sonny has that real 70's songwriter feel for me, like Neil Young and 'Everybody knows this is nowhere'. That lazy Sunday, record spinning away feel, lots of classic instrumentation, pianos, acoustic guitar, slow lazy feel songs about drinking, love, the bullshit of life. Bottom line he's a timeless songwriter, well jack of all trades really, he's illustrating comics, crossing over in all kinds of ways. A modern Townes Van Zandt...this is life, I've got some finely crafted songs that are full of the road, hard times and the bottom of a bottle. It's real country, not that label that plays on the radio, but some kind of hard american experience.
In March of 2009, he gained another residency through The Headlands Center for the Arts to begin a large project called “100 records” in which 100 artists make 7” record covers of fictional bands that he supplies the music for. The show debuts for a five week run at Gallery 16 in San Francisco in April 2010.
Get it from Future Stress, where they still have blue and yellow swirl and bonus comics still available.
Helmed by the acclaimed songwriter, playwright, author & onetime troubadour piano man Sonny Smith, The Sunsets hail from San Francisco’s Ocean Beach district and feature a revolving door lineup that now permanently includes Kelley Stotlz, Ryan Browne and Tahlia Harbour. Friends and neighbors including John Dwyer (Oh Seas) and Tim Cohen (Fresh & Only’s) appeared to contribute to their debut LP, Tomorrow is Alright (available through our friends @ Soft Abuse Records).
Sonny & The Sunsets’ first release on Future Stress Recordings comes in the form of a four song 7”. Three of the songs were recorded at a Headlands Center for the Arts residency in March 2009, and are not featured on the full-length.
Limited quantities of black or blue-yellow vinyl; the first 100 orders will receive an exclusive comic book – Zig Speck: Phenomenal Musician, Colorful Carouser – written & illustrated by Sonny.
Soft Abuse mentioned this full length from Sonny and the Sunsets when I reviewed a couple of their singles a little while back and looking further into Sonny I found a Tim Cohen/F&O's connection so I had to give it a listen and it's been sinking in this past week.
One of my favorites, the first track, 'Too Young to Burn' is warm layers of acoustic guitar and organic percussion; slightly faded to the left snaps and handclaps. It's just the start of that gather-round-the-campfire folk 60's sound... which is present throughout 'Tomorrow is Alright'. There's a timeless quality you can't put a finger on to sort out the exact elements... but still it's contemporary sounding.... not so much a throwback that it's losing it's own identity, the most successful kind of combination of influence. He recreates that folk/pop sound from the 60's or 70's but without being too nostalgic, too faithful to details. But it doesn't completely stay in that era either...from the slightly country bluegrass of 'Stranded', to the slow Velvets nihilistic slow echo of 'Death Cream' it seems Sonny just takes whatever style works for the content...or his rambling ways translate into genre hopping....all while being catchy enough to unconsciously sing along with the vocals. Something like 'Strange Love' is a classic 50's echo harmony ballad with off tune ancient piano. The sort of musician who grew up playing all over the place, soaking up the styles from everywhere, not playing with visions of rocking the next ATP festival, but making enough in tips to get that guitar fixed and move on to the next town. He writes with unselfconscious sentiment and the idealized hopes about love, or the visions of society like in 'Planet of Women'...well in that case it's kind of a sci-fi, duet conversation with Tahlia Harbour. Men being slaves...willing slaves....there's nothing you have to read into, it's storytelling, good-times, sunny west coast roadtrip sounds.
Amoeba's blog has an interview with Sonny... tons more info about the album and it's various guest appearances and connections.
Sonny & the Sunsets' debut album will be available 17 November via LP / DL. The album is a co-release with the SF label Secret Seven, who you might know from the brilliant Tim Cohen (Fresh & Onlys, Black Fiction) solo LP from earlier this year. Sonny & the Sunsets are a beautiful west coast thing. Birthed from the sand, the surf, and twilight campfires down in Ocean Beach, Sonny & the Sunsets’ busted beach-pop songs spark recollections of doo wop's otherworldly despair, the kitchen sink savoir faire of The Raincoats, a touch of humor from the Michael Hurley school, and the positive possibilities exuded by Jonathan Richman. Helmed by the acclaimed singer/songwriter, playwright, comic book author & onetime troubadour pianoman Sonny Smith, The Sunsets have featured a revolving door lineup that now includes Kelley Stotlz (Sub Pop) and Tahlia Harbour (Dry Spells, Citay). Others like John Dwyer (The Oh Sees, etc.), Tim Cohen (The Fresh & Onlys, Black Fiction) and Shayde Sartin (The Fresh & Onlys, The Skygreen Leopards, etc) cosmically appeared to contribute to the debut LP, Tomorrow is Alright. Tomorrow is Alright is limited to 500 copies. An illustration from the heralded artist Chris Johanson (Deitch Projects, Awesome Vistas label) adorns the sleeve.
...and the first 50 copies get a comic written by Sonny...
If you're pressing 7" vinyl - you aren't in it for the money. I appreciate it.
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