Issue 35 / July 2013

Bido Lito! July 2013
13
It’s halfway through talking to TWO SUNSETS that Sean
(Butler, Vocals and Synths) declares of their music that “I think
of it sometimes like an explosion of sound, it kind of hits you
all at once... it’s that euphoric feeling.” It’s the sort of spot-on
summation that makes me feel like the duo should be writing
their own feature, so aware are they of exactly what they want
to achieve. And with just one single in the bag in the form of
Venetian Skies, they’re clearly already adept at actually achieving
those intentions; just press play on Searchlights, and you’ll be
enveloped by the bleary-eyed euphoria that they’re talking about.
The other half of the musical marriage, Phil (Bridges, Guitar),
then animatedly outlines the root of this sound as being what
he calls their “collage of sound”; a sort of paradoxical tapestry
of euphoria and melancholia tied together by their melodic
instinct and, as he says himself, “lots of layered vocals”. The
end product, Sean suggests, is what he calls “gorgeous cloud
music”; an ambitious description, but the immaculate, hazy
sweep of Venetian Skies is sturdy evidence for their claims. This
ambition gives a sense of just how involved the duo are in the
world of their music, a fact that was not lost on The Great Pop
Supplement, the pioneering record label who were impressed
enough to release Two Sunsets’ debut single in February and
will be releasing the band’s next outing in July.
But the Liverpool-based outfit have not always pursued their
music with such single-minded confidence. Only after Sandunes
was written did they have the self-assurance to share their
creations with the public, and Phil recalls that “once we wrote
Sandunes it gave us the belief to pursue it as a worthwhile
project, as we were happy with the blend of melody and sounds.”
Yet Two Sunsets had existed in one form or another for years,
born from the alignment of the musical minds of Sean and
Phil, as the latter explains: “We were both really into the same
music; I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else with such similar
taste.” It’s not hard to notice traces of this well-informed musical
heritage in their music, which oscillates between the direct
impact of melodies, and something altogether more undefined;
perhaps not surprising as the first two shared passions that they
mention are 60s girl groups and synth pop. In a sense, it’s that
interplay between the instantaneous and the veiled that defines
their music, and never more obviously than on Venetian Skies,
with the vocal hook nailed in place by blissfully warped guitars.
Yet, at the risk of sounding pretentious, Two Sunsets really
are about more than just the music. It’s not without some
significance that all of their tracks so far have been accompanied
by striking videos, or that Phil also produces collage art under
the name Low Coney. For Two Sunsets, what goes into the eyes is
almost as important as what goes into the ears, for, as Sean says,
“The combination of music and images definitely increases the
sensory experience of consuming music.” This artistic approach
is often a tightrope between being conceited and actual artistic
merit, but Two Sunsets seem to be making a breeze of that
balancing act, mainly because their visuals genuinely add to the
music rather than simply existing as promotional devices. Take
the video of Moonshadows, for example, in which grainy footage
of an old fairground evokes the nostalgia of the track itself.
Through these videos and the home-made art that hangs from
their various pages on the internet, Two Sunsets have created a
world to be immersed in which plays on the emotions as much
as the ears. As Sean explains, “I think a lot of the time we talk
about our music in terms of feelings rather than sounds... We’ll
work together to try and recreate the feeling of watching the
sun rise or something like that.” There’s definitely a sense of a
need to provide stimulating imagery in a digital age, as Sean
continues that art “makes it [music] less disposable. I think
you’re more likely to really engage a listener on YouTube than on
SoundCloud or Spotify.”
You might expect a group with such a detailed vision for their
output to be control freaks, but although Two Sunsets currently
do literally everything themselves, they argue that they do like
doing things this way, but they wouldn’t disregard the possibility
of working with like-minded people. Phil explains that, “We home
record at the moment through necessity rather than a deliberate
lo-fi ideal. But at the same time, it’s been OK not going through
a huge production filter.” As he points out, there’s an effort not
to distort the natural sound of Two Sunsets: “Our music goes
through filters anyway, so if we had another filter of another
person in a studio we’d get further and further away from the
source.” This comes across in their music, as each track is edged
by that blurry introspection characteristic of Two Sunsets, which
could become diluted by the pressures and time constraints that
come with professional studios and producers. Yet, at the same
time, the duo are open-minded about working with people who
are going to add something to their sound; in fact, it has just been
confirmed that Sonic Boom is going to be mastering their next
single, Katy Komatsu, and the band are understandably pleased:
“We’re fans of his production work on Panda Bear’s Tomboy and
MGMT’s Congratulations, so going forward it could be a good fit,
as we share some intentions.”
Katy Komatsu itself, although cut from the same melancholic
cloth as their previous releases, certainly re-imagines some of the
band’s central aspects in new ways. It’s a vivid paean to love, still
cloaked in their enigmatic fuzz, but is perhaps more direct than
we’ve heard them before. As Phil says, “It’s possibly the catchiest
chorus we’ve recorded so far, but our desire to create slightly out
of focus dream pop/shoegaze/psych/Balearic music remains the
same.” Yet, it’s still abstract enough to suggest a multitude of
images with evocative lyrics like: “Sun spills in winter/pale on
the shore/falling around you/burden no more.” Phil explains that
the abstract approach was intentional, saying that “It’s a really
surreal song about what love is... but it’s hard to put the lyrical
meanings into words without trivialising them, really: we’d quite
like people to interpret them and take what they want from
them.” Musically, Katy Komatsu really exemplifies the breadth of
Two Sunsets, and Phil continues that “If you listen to the Super
Furry Animals they have such a wide variety of work on just one
album. So we want to achieve a mood, certainly, but to be free
to explore different avenues.” This exploratory edge is definitely
something that sets the duo apart, as they have such a strong
identity that they can be more ambitious and the end product
will still fall under the umbrella of that Two Sunsets aesthetic. At
this, Phil trails off suggestively with: “We just don’t yet know how
wide that umbrella is...” But judging by how involved they are in
making their music, it seems fair to assume that we’re going to
find out. And that when we do, there will be pictures.
facebook.com/twosunsets
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