Issue 47 / August 2014

Bido Lito! August 2014 7
best thing about the internet but, fucking hell, how are we going
to get heard? The reality is that some people will buy it online, a
few will be in a few independent shops, but there’s not going to
be a deluge. Your mates will say, ‘What have you done this week,’
and you’ll say, ‘Our album came out on Monday’ and they’ll sort
of go ‘Oh’.”
There’s no denying that the current SoundCloud-off that
dominates those initial stages of the music industry ladder is an
imperfect democracy, and one that is still at the mercy of record
company dollars and industry connections, so all you can do is
make sure that you’re impossible to ignore. On those grounds,
Roam stands as good a chance as anything. Its unique charm
lies in the disconnect between its woozy psych pop and its
morbid observations of illness, love, and loss. “Miserable, innit,”
concludes Chris. “It was a weird year. A lot of people we knew, or
ourselves, were ill or breaking up.” That said, there’s an optimism
to the album thanks to the ethereal fog of hooks that soften the
blow of the bleak subject matter. Chris nods in agreement: “I think
it’s hopeful-sounding, isn’t it?”
We then approach the elephant in the room: Surefire Ways
To Sweeten The Mind was relentlessly compared to Americana,
whilst Roam has a slightly spacier, gently psychedelic vibe. Was
there a revelatory, narcotic-fuelled, out-of-body experience or a
Sunstack Jones trip to a self-healing commune somewhere deep
within the Himalayas’ foothills that inspired this shift? “What
even is ‘Americana’?” asks Chris as a response. Satisfied that none
of us can come up with an adequate description, Lorcan goes
on to politely remind us that they were slightly surprised with
the Americana tag that lazy writers (we assume that means us)
slung around their necks. Instead, they’ve always had aspirations
to craft immersive and transportative music: “It would be more
psychedelic if I could play the guitar,” admits Chris, “it would sound
like a giant marshmallow.” Lorcan explains that Roam’s wideeyed
spaciousness came
from the album being
a democratic full-band
effort, in contrast to Surefire Ways To Sweeten The Mind, which
was largely based on Chris’ demos. Lorcan: “The songs on Roam
were built up and up and up, which can have that effect. A lot of
the songs on the first album were quite fully formed when they
came out. But a track like Circular Sun has layers and layers and
layers.” “Are you kidding?” blurts Chris. “There’s so much space
in there!” Right on beat, Lorcan fires back: “Well that’s the gift,
innit.”
Although there’s no doubt that they’ve made a slight lean
towards the mind-altering on Roam, there remains something
indistinct but fundamentally Sunstack Jones about the record.
At a loss to nail down this feeling into words, we ask the band
themselves what this quality is that separates their music from
that of those thousands of new bands clamouring for attention.
To this Chris offers the speculative and partially tongue-in-cheek
response that “It’s better than it...?” Richy steps in to prevent his
older brother saying anything else incriminating: “I think that the
melodies that he [Chris] puts to the music are what set us apart
from other bands... they’re clever melodies.”
That might seem a big claim on paper, but even a cursory listen
to Roam suggests that there’s wisdom to his words; opener
Library is a velodrome of melodies, with echo-laden vocals,
chiming guitars and even the subtle lament of a cello snaking
around each other for its three serene minutes. Lorcan, who has
been absent from the conversation for the past half a minute,
suddenly interjects with a stanza worthy of Wordsworth: “I’d say
we’re a cool breeze on a hot, still summer’s day; the break in the
clouds on a winter’s night.” It’s a fittingly ambitious description for
an album that constantly evokes panoramic images of blinding
sunrises, hazy sunsets, and all the introspective moments inbetween.
The band seem ambitious in another sense, too:
at various points in the interview Chris has
casually dropped in references to having a
box-set of the first ten Sunstack Jones
records in ten years’ time. Given their remorseless self-deprecation,
do they view the band in that long-term frame? “I do,” comes
Chris’ instant response. “We don’t have to do it – there’s no record
label, so we don’t even have to be here right now – but we love
it. We love making music, that’s the only reason we do it.” So if
nobody listened to their music and their tracks were simply being
cast off into the black hole of the internet, would they still do it?
“Absolutely, we’re compelled. I just can’t see a time where you’ll
get a melody in your head and go, ‘Nah, I won’t bother writing
that one down’.”
By now it’s hardly surprising that, when probed on their postalbum
release ambitions, they aren’t to be found outlining future
plans to headline Glastonbury or swivel the heads of a label with
a marketing budget the size of an emerging nation’s economy.
Instead, the blunt answer that Chris delivers with the steeliest
stare that we’ve seen from him all night is “We’ll make another
album.” It’s as simple as that; as natural as breathing to them, and
almost as inevitable given the lethargic intensity with which they
go about making their music. Breezes will continue to relieve
stifling days, clouds will continue to break on winter’s nights
and, with just as much certainty, Sunstack Jones will be holed
up someplace, laconically crafting dreamy gems. Their restless
motivation is hard not to admire, but it’s worth just pausing and
basking in Roam’s dark lyricism and sun-warped melodies before
they return with number three (of at least ten).
sunstackjones.com
Roam is out on 28th July on Mammoth Bell Recording Co.
Sunstack Jones play Above The Beaten Track Festival on 30th
August at The Bluecoat.
bidolito.co.uk