Kill The Road

(For Nothing Bad Magazine)

London’s Sunderbans don’t really write tunes you hear nowadays. No lazy, box-ticking sub-par categorization will be applied here, they deserve better. The trio’s nuanced, realized sound is both stark and mature. Some may point tentatively towards the rhythmic, paranoid minimalism of Krautrock or the sand sprayed, fettered fuzz-box muscle of Kyuss, though willing listeners will recognise that it lays somewhere in between the two; in a beautiful, subtly abstract half-light.

After forming a collective under various monikers and artistic collaborations in deepest Sheffield, the band were drawn to the bright lights and darkened streets of Dalston to set up shop as Sunderbans, a name based on an existent ‘tidal halophytic mangrove’ in Bali…apparently. ‘We practice in a cellar hidden beneath a snooker club’ explains bassist Chris Hutchinson. ‘It feels like our second home…Our flat also doubles as a practice room and creative space. You will often find us recording vocals in the bathroom. Or writing or recording new songs in each others bedrooms.’

Having played with the likes of Swedish demigods Bob Hund, they managed to secure a deal with reputable underdogs Young and Lost, and found themselves working with Henrik Orrling of The Envelopes fame on the recording of their debut single We Only Can Because We Care: ‘We all fell deeply in love with Henrik. He opened our eyes to the beauty and importance of every detail. His guidance and energy gave us so much confidence and self belief.’

Devil-in-the-details workmanship and barebones lyrical conceit certainly paint a fair picture, but a musical upbringing is always a becoming start for talent so fresh off the drawing board: ‘Our primary school was kind of strange as it had a Spanish guitar Orchestra which was used to accompany the hymns in assembly. One brilliant teacher had an amazing enthusiasm for the instrument and she showed us all how to play it.’ Maurice Day, singer, guitarist and chief gunslinger is less enthusiastic about his formative days: ‘My Dad comes from a musically repressed family - where talent was undercut by self-deprecation’ he proclaims, ‘though Jack Day, my brother, is a folk singer who was pretty much the main musical influence for me growing up, and still is.’

Their single Road Kill is available as a free download on Young and Lost’s site, so switch on your lobes, find the thumb drum in your ear brain and whig out…Navada style.