The first two years of SUNGLO’s existence have been building up to this moment. The 4-piece have been bubbling under the surface of Manchester’s alternative music scene, building up a fanbase and causing a ruckus in their live shows, and now it’s time for their debut EP. ‘Are You Happy?’ features their first two singles ‘I Don’t Mind’ and ‘Elevator Belle’ as well as three brand new tracks to launch the biggest stage of their journey so far. Set for release on the 18th July, with a special headline EP release show booked at Night & Day, Manchester to celebrate, this is a true statement of intent from the young psychedelic rockers.
Perfectly described by BBC Introducing as “happy filth,” SUNGLO sit somewhere between happy and sad in their raw, experimental sound. Their soft melodic tones take you through a wonderland one minute, then into hazy, grungy chaos the next. Opening track ‘Rainpour’ goes in at full pelt with screeching beefy guitar riffs, plenty of reverb, big-room choruses and is next level frantic. This is followed by their second single, the critically acclaimed ‘Elevator Belle,’ a song that captures the feeling of bipolar not only through the lyrics, but its drastic switching between the calm and a storm. ‘The Feeling’s Gone’ has an undeniable swag and groove about it, not to mention one of the most gnarly guitar solos you’ll hear in a long time. Taking things back to the start, track 4 is their first ever single release ‘I Don’t Mind,’ a song that turned them into ‘ones-to-watch’ in no time. Finally, closing the EP is ‘Forget About It,’ a fuzzy daydream of a song that rounds things off peacefully. On writing the EP, lead singer and guitarist Kady Jones added:
“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”
As well as supporting the likes of Orchards and Slothrust, and causing havoc in and around Manchester, SUNGLO have been turning plenty of heads in their short history, and now they’re about to embark on a tour to support the new EP.
Armed with genre-bending music that takes you back to multiple eras of rock and roll, an explosive live show and downright likeability, this is the start of something much, much bigger for SUNGLO. Are You Happy?
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