LISTEN TO “DON‘T TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER“ NOW:
The first foretaste of an explorative new project, the track is one of eight recordings that will comprise Sun Atoms’ debut album: ‘Let There Be Light’.
Produced-by and featuring The Dandy Warhols’ guitar pedal maestro Peter Holmström (Pete International Airport, The Dandy Warhols) and mixed by London’s legendary Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths, New Order), other first-rate guest performances scattered throughout the record also include The Black Angels’ Alex Maas, the leader of Brooklyn’s The Vandelles: Jasno Swarez, St. Louis beat boss drummer Bob Mild, esteemed session player Gregg Williams (Sheryl Crow, Blitzen Trapper), and Sacramento punks Pets, to name a few.
Utilising the time that elapsed during the pandemic for the creative, Sun Atoms began sharing ideas for songs with long time collaborator Peter Holmström. Sending files back and forth from London, Brooklyn, Austin, and Sacramento, the pair began crafting what would soon become ‘Let There Be Light’. Transfixed in a shared sense of awe for the sun, our local star and a giant ball of gas that blazes at the middle of the solar system and connects us all with central purpose; it soon became a point of focus for the record.
Merging styles, sounds and genres with the kind of nuclear fusion akin to those particles at the very heart of the solar system; psychedelic dark wave, postmodern pop and more meld seamlessly into a set of transformative songs etched with wonder, humour and an inherent cool in their every fibre. In sci-fi tipped cuts like “Don’t Take Me To Your Leader”, “Captain Tunnel Vision” and “Praying Mantis”; references to heavenly bodies and the mysteries of the universe drift like asteroids through a cosmos of starry, strung-out arrangements.
Citing luminary influences such as Moon Duo, The Cure, Nick Cave, Love and Rockets, Spiritualized, and Leonard Cohen; the result is a record that burns with a cosmic radiance, quite content to defy the rules of the universe.
‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’ – TRACK-LISTING
The Cat’s Eye
Half Robot Half Butterfly
Captain Tunnel Vision
Don’t Take Me To Your Leader
Super Switch Kid
Fell For You
Two Wolves and a Lamb Voted on What’s For Dinner
Praying Mantis
Jsun Atoms AKA Sun Atoms is an artist and producer based in Portland, Oregon. As a member of The Upsidedown and Daydream Machine, he has supported the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Allah-Las, and Luna, My Bloody Valentine’s Colm Ó Ciosóig and more. A musician’s musician, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval picked Atoms’ music for their Brooklyn Vegan playlist and had his band open for them on tour, whereas The Dandy Warhols’ have had Sun Atoms’ bands as main support in Australia, Canada, and several tours of the States. Atoms has also performed several times at The Black Angels’ Levitation Festival, SXSW, and Joshua Tree’s Desert Stars Festival.
Over the years, Atoms’ music has been featured in more than 40 television shows and movies including Sons of Anarchy on FX, Ray Donovan on Showtime, Animal Kingdom on TNT, and True Blood on HBO. Earning plaudits from a number of tastemaker titles the world over, Magnet Magazine praised of Atoms earlier works: “the shoegazing vortex that sucks you in never lets go”.
Adopting the new guise of Sun Atoms in 2021, Sun Atoms has curated the line up for the most recent Portland PyschFest, bringing together acts from as far away as Sao Paolo, Brazil to support Los Angeles headliners The Warlocks and Dead Meadow. Atoms’ music is also currently featured in this year’s award winning arthouse movie “Neolovismo”, recently nominated for Best Film and Best Screenplay at the Milan International Film Festival. Releasing his official debut single under the moniker “Don’t Take Me To Your Leader” in July, a debut album: ‘Let There Be Light’ will follow in the Autumn.
Watch this space for news of further releases and live shows to be announced in the coming months…
