Sonny & The Sunsets - The Hypnotist b/w Stranded 7"

Tally Ho favourites Sonny & The Sunsets follow up their awesome debut LP with a four song 7" on new label Future Stress Recordings.

With the same honest, rootsy song-writing that shone on Tomorrow Is Alright at its base, the new 7" somehow feels more intimate than previous Sonny releases. Girl on the Street and The Hypnotist both rely on folkie guitar flourishes and flute backing, creating truly psychedelic music devoid of fancy effects pedals or touched up vocals... as if we're being allowed a few brief flashes of the man behind the songs.

Highlight for this fan is Stranded. A cut from the aforementioned full length, its lingering, sinister guitar intro perfectly compliments the downtrodden, helpless tone of Sonny's lyrics.

You can pick up this latest set at Future Stress Recordings website here and as a teaser here's Stranded...

Stranded by Sonny & The Sunsets

Sonny & The Sunsets

We first heard Sonny & The Sunsets on the ace Secret Seven Records comp, In A Cloud: New Sounds from San Francisco. Their track Heart of Sadness is the premier track both chronologically and musically.

Their full length Tomorrow is Alright is a great record. Transcending lo-fi beginnings to pour flourishes of loveliness as well as tough snarl garage poseurs into your living room. Veering dangerously close to melody, the record is just as happy contemplating summer through the window glare as it is soundtracking a wild, never-ending night out.

Sonny & The Sunsets are the brainchild of Sonny Smith, a mistrel-like figure whose re-appearance in San Francisco after years as a professional blues sideman in places as diverse as Denver and Costa Rica, led to him teaming up with a cast of San Fran musicians including Fresh & Only's mainstays Shayde Sartin & Tim Cohen.

Check out highlights Death Cream and Too Young to Burn on their myspace here and this cool vid of them performing the latter below