Sundodger releases LP
BANDCAMP: https://sundodger.bandcamp.com/album/bigger-waves
Along Seattle’s Fremont Cut, there’s a recording studio known as Studio Lithio. First put into operation under the command of Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard in 1995. Studio Lithio has seen a lot of talent come in and out in hopes of recording something significant and impactful. Recently, Seattle’s Sundodger passed through and recorded their debut full length album Bigger Waves, and while the band was clearly ready for the next phase of their career, it was all too magical that Studio Lithio be where that next phase would be born. In the spirit of the Seattle scene’s legendary forerunners, Sundodger channels pure amplifier carnage in Bigger Waves that doesn’t just shake your stereo but stimulates your musical intellect as well.
In this business, there are professionals and there’s everyone else, and more often than not it’s the “everyone else” that receives more attention than they’re really due. Sundodger hasn’t concerned themselves with getting a ton of exposure outside of their own scene. But that’s where they are special. Sundodger isn’t interested in taking the easy way out, and Bigger Waves showcases this more than anything. The music is the priority and everything else comes second.
Under these ethics, Bigger Waves comes together fusing DIY ethos with a lust for volume-cranked, high energy rock. Sundodger blows the paint off the walls with this record, but don’t use much bravado to get the message across. If frills are what you’re looking for in a rock record, Bigger Waves isn’t one that I would recommend to you. But, if you’re more interested in music that doesn’t have time to pack on much fat before delivering a clobbering melodic punch, this might be a little more up your alley.
Songs like “Epitaph” and “Do No Harm” aren’t your typical contemporary radio-ready singles, yet they show off a charming dark wit that has been sorely desired in pop music by both critics and audiences alike for the past decade. “Keeping a Light On” was my favorite song from Bigger Waves not because of its infectiously groove-laden hook, but because of its depth of perception, lyrically and sonically. One thing that every track on Bigger Waves has in common is their ability to leave us shaken and roused from any disinterested boredom we might have felt prior to listening.
Bigger Waves is a sprawling, attention-getting full length album that requires a lot of focus to breakdown but relentlessly draws us closer to its ethereal, glowing core of craftsmanship. Sundodger might not be a band that a lot of listeners outside of Washington state are familiar with, but something tells me that this record could go a long way towards changing that. From coast to coast, Americans have been demanding a fresh start for rock music in the 21st century, and to be honest, no one I’ve reviewed lately shows as much devotion to the genre as Sundodger.
Mindy McCall
