Sundrifter Announce An Earlier Time LP out Feb. 16
Big sound here from Sundrifter, whose An Earlier Time is deceptively forward-thinking considering the nostalgic evocations of the title. The Boston trio, who you”ll recall were sharing drummer Patrick Queenan with Gozu for a bit there, will issue An Earlier Time through Small Stone Records on Feb. 16, which feels like it’s coming up quick at this point but that’s life in January. It was the band’s 2018 outing, Visitations (review here), that caught the ears of the long-running Detroit imprint, leading to a months-after-the-DIY-release reissue — I seem to recall something similar happened with Lo-Pan in the long, long ago; it’s not unheard of — and An Earlier Time broadens the sound of that record exponentially, harnessing grander spaces, dynamic changes and an abidingly cosmic feel to even its most driving moments, and yes, I’m looking right at you, “Space Exploration.”
That song is one of eight on the record, and like many of them, it could’ve been the lead single just as easily as “Begin Again,” but the initial push, roll and soul there can’t be denied. Available to stream on the player at the bottom of the post, An Earlier Time‘s first public snippet is telling in the overarching largesse that unites the material across the record, but has an impact in its middle stretch that is its own, fleshed out by Craig Puera‘s melodic vocals holding out notes into an echoing expanse.
I firmly believe it’s not a thing you’ll regret hearing. So, by all means, go for it:
SUNDRIFTER: Boston-Based Desert Rock Trio To Release An Earlier Time Full-Length February 16th Via Small Stone Recordings; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Boston-based desert rock trio SUNDRIFTER will release their long-awaited new full-length, An Earlier Time, on February 16th via Small Stone Recordings, today unveiling the album’s cover art, track listing, and first single.
SUNDRIFTER’s sound is bigger and broader on An Earlier Time. From the appropriate beginning of “Limitless” onward, the New England three-piece answers the potential of their 2019 sophomore album, Visitations, and their 2016 debut, Not Coming Back, with a collection that is likewise huge and intimate, bringing together expansive atmospheres a la Hum’s heavy post-rock vision with Soundgarden’s unmitigated heavy revelry and melodic command and the contemplative expressivism of Radiohead. The offering features eight songs, each one of them a world to get lost in.
With the returning trio of guitarist/vocalist Craig Peura, bassist Paul Gaughran, and drummer Patrick Queenan, SUNDRIFTER calls to mind the expansive atmospheric heavy rock of outfits like Forming The Void or Small Stone veterans Abrahma, but Peura’s vocals cull influence from ’90s alt rock in a way that emphasizes the individual now more than ever. The band’s third album realizations come complemented by the return of producer/mixer Dan Schwartz, mastering by Chris Goosman, and cover art by Branca Studio, furthering the “complete package” sensibility fostered in no small part by the weighted complexity and breadth of the tracks themselves. It’s not so much heavy rock as is, but as it could be.
In advance of the official release of An Earlier Time, today the band reveals the record’s first single, “Begin Again.” With Peura elaborating, “‘Begin Again’ is a constant battle to overcome negative self-talk and the pain that it can bring telling you of your failures, and the excitement that comes when you decide to acknowledge them and begin again.”
“I’d say the name says everything,” Gaughran continues. “It’s a statement of intention from the band. It’s taken far longer than we’d have liked to make this record, but time has its upsides. I’d like to think we’ve used it to hone in on a sound that better reflects our collective influences as a band, both musical and non-musical. ‘Begin Again’ tonally evokes all those influences, whether it be space and the desert or any of the spiritual concepts expressed lyrically, all while retaining the signature characteristics of our brand of heavy psychedelic rock.”
Queenan adds, “As the ancients had to rebuild humanity and societies after cataclysmic events so are we emerging from the ash and beginning yet again.”
An Earlier Time will be released on CD, limited edition LP, and digitally. Find preorders at the official Small Stone Recordings Bandcamp page HERE: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/an-earlier-time
An Earlier Time Track Listing:
1. Limitless
2. Space Exploration
3. Nuclear Sacrifice
4. Prehistoric Liftoff
5. Begin Again
6. Want You Home
7. Final Chance
8. Last Transmission
SUNDRIFTER Live:
2/01/2023 Widowmaker Brewery – Braintree, MA w/ Swamphead, Bone Church, Earthlore
SUNDRIFTER:
Craig Peura – vocals, guitar
Paul Gaughran – bass
Patrick Queenan – drums
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