Shelter from the Storm - reviewed by Simon Heavisides
Carefully selected by label boss Albert, Shelter was a two-part free download posted during the lockdown as a treat for fans, and now appears as Sunday's first vinyl in twenty years.
At a time when music offers a solace that's more welcome than ever, the good news is that this compilation succeeds on multiple levels.
Firstly it's a reminder of just how underrated Sunday Records is as a label, stretching back to 1990 Albert has had a great ear for classic indie-pop. But this is no mere nostalgia trip, featuring both classic Sunday bands such as The Proctors and Pristines, plus newer acts such as Arctic Flow and some very interesting off-label acts like Nah... and Kosmonaut.
Highlights are many: L I P S gloriously languid Dreams I Outgrew reaffirms their reputation as great hopes for the future. The gorgeous Slowdive-like, glide and shimmer of Japanese Heart Software (Nat Chippy from Melbourne band VIM) guitars flickering like burning embers, I could listen to this on repeat all day. More please, and soon.
Brooklyn's Day and Dreams offer the enveloping heat haze of Forest Fire, sultry guitars dipping in and out behind Abby Amaya's enveloping vocals, it's shoegaze with a 60s girl group undertow.
Linus by Nah... (digital only) is a gem, sweeping all before it with coolly resonant singing from Estella of Fade Away and Radiate blog fame. Feeling like a warm breeze, guitars circle and sigh around a warm keyboard line. It leaves you thinking of some great lost Velvet Underground outtake. Yes, that good.
Sunday records and the bands and artists featured have created an ever more rare place where music triumphs over both commerce and the noise of the outside world and let's face it, don't we need that right now?
Shelter is a great celebration of an undervalued label, acknowledging the past but looking to the future.
Lie back and luxuriate.
Includes unlimited streaming of Shelter (the Album)
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
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