After a 15 year hiatus, Sunset Rubdown announces their new album “Always Happy To Explode” to be released on Spencer Krug’s own label Pronounced Kroog on September 20th, 2024. The new release will be supported by a North American tour running from October 10th to October 30th, 2024. Twenty years ago, Spencer Krug began Sunset Rubdown as a solo project for his low-fi recordings, distinct from his work with Wolf Parade. By 2005, it evolved into a full band with Michael Doerksen, Jordan Robson-Cramer, and Camilla Wynne. They released their third critically-acclaimed album, Dragon Slayer, in 2008 and played their final show in Tokyo in 2009. After more than a decade apart, Krug had a dream about reuniting the band and emailed the members. They eagerly agreed, leading to a successful reunion tour. With new bassist Nicholas Merz, Sunset Rubdown decided to create a new album, fueled by the fun they rediscovered on tour.
Reappearing Rat, the leading single from Sunset Rubdown’s Always Happy To Explode is an upbeat, acoustic guitar-driven ode to the tiny monster that lives in our heads—the one that makes itself known anytime blessings such as serenity, clarity, or acceptance are on our emotional horizons. “A kind of irresponsible and lazy surrender to the notion that we’re all just stuck with ourselves, this song is for those times you think “Why won’t that person just leave?”, only to realize you’re referring to yourself. For better or worse, we live in our brains. Apparently so does the rat.” Spencer Krug. The recording features Spencer Krug on acoustic guitar and vocals, Camilla Wynne on keyboard / omnichord and vocals, Nick Merz on bass, and Jordan Robson-Cramer on drums. It was recorded, more or less, live off the floor record at a studio called The Noise Floor, under the guidance of producer/engineer Jordan Koop.
It is also accompanied by a music video directed by Vancouver’s Derek Janzen, starring Aaron Read, filmed in various locations in Vancouver, BC. Derek Janzen is an award-winning filmmaker and musician living in Vancouver BC on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. His work has been featured in Pitchfork, Vulture, Booooooom, The FADER, Stereogum, NoBudge, and other nice places.
Sister Ray is the project of Edmonton-born songwriter Ella Coyes. Armed with a voice that soars and scrapes in equal measure, Coyes converts first-person recollections of big, complicated love into universally potent allegories., Raised on the expansive prairies of Sturgeon County, their music is steeped in a wide range of cultural influences. With gospel bluegrass and 90’s country playing in the background of their youth, it was the traditional Métis music played at home that not only brought them closer to their heritage, but taught them a form of storytelling rooted in collective value, resilience, and safety.
Their debut album, Communion, was longlisted for the 2022 Polaris Prize, and Pitchfork deemed it “a complex study of webs of interpersonal hurt, and a celebration of emotional survival.” They have been featured in Clash Magazine, NME, DIY Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Audiotree, NPR, Paste, and many more tastemaker outlets. Their forthcoming EP, Teeth, came from a need for space and the repercussions conditional to this desire. The songs were written quickly and vigorously, mimicked through the recording process, crafted by Coyes over five days, recruiting Ginla (the Brooklyn-based duo behind Communion and early Adrianne Lenker) as collaborators and producers. Their yearning tone and staggering honesty trickles throughout and the erosion leads to an opening—vacant, unfamiliar, and with room to breathe.
