by Dominic Acito (@mycamgrlromance)
The members of Sun June met, legend has it, in American director Terrance Malik’s editing room. It’s a fitting beginning for a band whose most recent release contains songs that feel like scenes from a short film that build with instrumental momentum and lyrics that become more revealing as you listen.
Titled Somewhere, the album’s lyrics form the “somewhere,” produced by the emotional gravity marked by important places in a person’s life. City names and emotional rooms are often referenced and raise questions like, where should one live? What would happen if I stayed? The album gives off the distinct feeling of being on a journey, not simply changing of locations but being in transit due to the ever-quickening passage of time. With lyrics that bear the distinct anxieties and thoughts of early adulthood with emotional moments punctuated with phone calls from parents and cramming into the back of a cab with a large group of friends; one can see why the band self describes as “regret pop”.
Though the band hails from Austin, Texas, the members are from all over the US. With wide-ranging influences that come together on Somewhere. The impact of their Texas formation can be felt on Somewhere as the band seamlessly entwines the lyrical sensibilities of country and Americana with indie pop. We are taken on a tour of the US through the eyes of transplanted musicians where we are shown apartments with emotional history, basement venues and parking lots where we see Karen O and a Bob Dylan impersonator perform. As singer Laura Colwell takes us through these emotionally charged scenes she uses the names of people as well as places to ease the sense of dislocation. “I’m Jackie O, I’m Pattie Smith, Stevie Nicks…” she sings on album opener “Bad with Time” as she compares herself to musicians and icons which help shape identity against the constant change in early adulthood; that which can leave one with an unmistakable feeling of being unmoored.
With the closing line that asks “is this what you wanted?” a distinct mood is stirred that is at once laid back and touching - accompanied by smooth vocals and chiming guitars. Somewhere provides a soundtrack to the melancholy feeling of the long drive home after weekend reunions with friends in a place far away and returning to the routine and wondering about your place in the world.