Joe runs through every album on his iPod, mostly in alphabetical order, and offers some brief thoughts. Check out previous columns HERE.
Rhetorical questions relating to the Sun Days:
One, is jangle pop the best genre? A style of music that utilizes bright, twelve-string, '60s psychadelic-style melodies, I honestly think jangle pop is the best representation of what music should be. It's upbeat and fun and versatile. It's go-to music to put on when guests are over. The Sun Days do this shit right.
Two, is it typical for bands hailing from Germanic-language countries to sing in English? The Sun Days come to us from Gothenburg, Sweden. While I'm not against listening to foreign-language music on occasion, I'm really glad that the Sun Days speak in English, because their lyrics, while sometimes simple, often speak to core human truths. The chorus of "I Keep On Wondering" is just "Do what you want in life!" It's not in a nihilistic way like Titus Andronicus. It's more on point with what I was saying a couple days ago about Baby's First Song: life is opportunity. The Sun Days are saying, basically, do what makes you happy. Honestly, I'm happy just listening to the Sun Days.
Three, do I get to use my love for this album as proof that my musical tastes aren't ALL about white dudes with guitars? The answer is, probably not, seeing as this band is four white dudes and a woman lead singer. I guess I always question myself whenever I listen to the Sun Days about this particular issue because it was in 2016 that the selective nature of my favorite music was questioned itself. On an internet message board, no less. True, my Top Albums of 2016 list does include a lot of white dudes, but I swear I didn't even notice until someone pointed out that Album was the sole exception. It's just, as I've already said a few times in these columns, I'm going to like what I like. I'm not going to keep trying, like, R&B or something if 99% of my experiences with that type of music haven't been to my liking. Jangle pop forever.
Four, are there any songs on this album that stand out? No, not really. This isn't an indictment of the album. It's just that there are some albums whose songs kind of bleed into one another, and aren't really distinctive in their own ways, but it's totally okay because that one sound that they are making is a GREAT fucking sound, and it doesn't even overstay its welcome. That being said... the best song is "get Him Off Your Mind."
Album
The Sun Days
2016
Rhetorical questions relating to the Sun Days:
One, is jangle pop the best genre? A style of music that utilizes bright, twelve-string, '60s psychadelic-style melodies, I honestly think jangle pop is the best representation of what music should be. It's upbeat and fun and versatile. It's go-to music to put on when guests are over. The Sun Days do this shit right.
Two, is it typical for bands hailing from Germanic-language countries to sing in English? The Sun Days come to us from Gothenburg, Sweden. While I'm not against listening to foreign-language music on occasion, I'm really glad that the Sun Days speak in English, because their lyrics, while sometimes simple, often speak to core human truths. The chorus of "I Keep On Wondering" is just "Do what you want in life!" It's not in a nihilistic way like Titus Andronicus. It's more on point with what I was saying a couple days ago about Baby's First Song: life is opportunity. The Sun Days are saying, basically, do what makes you happy. Honestly, I'm happy just listening to the Sun Days.
Three, do I get to use my love for this album as proof that my musical tastes aren't ALL about white dudes with guitars? The answer is, probably not, seeing as this band is four white dudes and a woman lead singer. I guess I always question myself whenever I listen to the Sun Days about this particular issue because it was in 2016 that the selective nature of my favorite music was questioned itself. On an internet message board, no less. True, my Top Albums of 2016 list does include a lot of white dudes, but I swear I didn't even notice until someone pointed out that Album was the sole exception. It's just, as I've already said a few times in these columns, I'm going to like what I like. I'm not going to keep trying, like, R&B or something if 99% of my experiences with that type of music haven't been to my liking. Jangle pop forever.
Four, are there any songs on this album that stand out? No, not really. This isn't an indictment of the album. It's just that there are some albums whose songs kind of bleed into one another, and aren't really distinctive in their own ways, but it's totally okay because that one sound that they are making is a GREAT fucking sound, and it doesn't even overstay its welcome. That being said... the best song is "get Him Off Your Mind."
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If this album sounds interesting, try this song: "OOO"
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Stray Observations
- I am not familiar with the band "The Sundays," but I can imagine that it could be confusing for some folks. According to the band, they did have at least one person come to their concert thinking they were seeing the Sundays. And yo, it makes for a very frustrating google experience.
- FRONT COVER: Can't get much more simple than white text of your band and album name on a stark black background. Perhaps there is supposed to be a juxtaposition between the plain dark cover and the bright colorful music to follow?
- Yes, the album is called Album, and yes, it is the second Album in a row for this column. I'm not sure if there are any other repeat album titles on my iPod? I just spent the last three minutes staring into space trying to think of a pair. I can't. Oh, wait! How about Let It Be, by both the Beatles and the Replacements? Those two albums are way more different from each other than Girls' and the Sun Days' Albums were.
- I think it's incredibly charming when band members comment on articles about their own band. Check out the comment section on this Stereogum article about the Sun Days' first single.
NEXT TIME: Aldhils Arboretum by Of Montreal
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