The Sun And The Sea – ironically two things you’re highly unlikely to find in Springfield, Illinois where this intriguing four piece are based – is the majority of the members of successful indie/emo band The Graduate reuniting to tackle a slightly more commercial and ambient sound under a new monicker. With an almost upsettingly small profile, their latest EP Nightfalls clocks up 7 tracks of beautiful, complex music, with each one seemingly more achingly impressive than the last. The closest likeness for their particular brand of folk tinged, Americana-laced indie would be Guillemots, but that sells them short. TSATS are capable of epic Radiohead swell and distortion on ‘Down The Same Path’ and the dance floor reverb of Foals rings through ‘Something We Can All Leave Behind’.
As the acoustic cloud nine of ‘Can’t Keep Breaking Your Heart’ washes over you halfway through the EP, you could be forgiven for mistaking this for a less aggressive Mumford & Sons number (if they’d been shot through with a dose of Wilco and Sigur Ros that is), with swelling strings and keys providing an epic conclusion. Title track ‘Nightfalls’ builds to a suitably mournful conclusion before the eclectically impressive closing track ‘So Far Away’ drives forward on an arpeggiated keyboard line. Once college radio picks up on this record, this track could go absolutely nuclear; if they were still making The OC the producers would be having a wet dream.
It’s refreshing to hear a relatively unknown act producing music to such an astonishing quality without a record deal and releasing it off their own backs, and whilst there’s no doubt that this isn’t normal Punktastic fare, there’s such incredible musicianship and song writing talent on display here that it surely can’t be long before this band achieve the recognition they so rightfully deserve.
JAMIE OTSA