Manchester’s SUNGLO released their debut EP, Are you Happy? on the 18th July. The four-piece alternative rockers, are, in the words of Wu Tang Clan been bringing da ruckus and turning heads since their formation, this includes us, here at Moshville Times on our Band of the Day feature.
Are You Happy? features five tracks, starting with “Rainpour”, it sounds created for their live show with heavy riffs, groove bass by Ali Foster and ecstatic fuzzy choruses from vocalist Kady Jones is raw with a garage, grunge rock flavour. Leading to second single “Elevator Belle”, delves into the ups and downs of emotional life and has been previously reviewed by Moshville Times colleague Rachy.
The groove of “The Feeling’s Gone” and impressive changing vocals together with Cameron Davies’ riffs remind me of an early garage rock production and is now a favourite of mine. The distorted riffs change to gentle weeping guitar, I can picture beer-drenched walls, feet sticking to quick drying cider and hair and make-up flying around the venue….anyway…sorry, I’m back now.
“I Don’t Mind” sounds early rock and roll with Sam O’Reilly drum beats while Kady Jones reminds me of Seattle rock star Star Anna’s strong distinctive vocal. This is the first one to be released from this EP. Finishing with “Forget About it” shows how far SUNGLO have gone in two years since their creation. I love their garage, raw-sounding tracks and the band showcase Kady’s angst and sensitivity in those lyrics and this music they all have created.
Before we finish, Kady Jones talks about the EP:
Are You Happy? is a very personal DIY release that includes some of the first songs we ever wrote together as a band. It covers the grapple of holding onto your inner child while growing into the person you want to be, as well as dealing with the overwhelming sense of dysphoria that can hit like a sucker punch when you leave education and are thrown into a world that expects you to become a fully-fledged ‘adult’ overnight. They’re all songs with themes we think people will be able to connect to in some way or another and we hope it makes our listeners question what makes them happy so that they can go out and do exactly that.
