Sun Voyager Premiere New Single “Running Hot”
Tomorrow night, Feb. 21, New York heavy psychdelic rockers Sun Voyager take the stage at Lucky 13 in Brooklyn, topping a bill that includes post-metallers Guhts, D.C.-based rollers Borracho and newcomer riffers The Crooked Skulls. That’s a good gig. You know what makes it better? New music.
They call it the second part of a trilogy, and fair enough, but to my knowledge, “Running Hot” — the suitably burner three-and-a-half-minute single premiering below — is the first studio offering from the three-piece since their rad-has-heck 2022 self-titled LP (review here), the release of which through Ripple Music felt like a suitable moment of arrival for the band, who’d been tearing away at psych and punk vibing at that point for nearly a decade already.
Concurrent to that album release, Sun Voyager took a hit when they lost their frontman, but bringing in Christian “Shaman Smoke” Lopez (also Heavy Temple) on guitar and letting bassist/keyboardist Stefan Mersch (who’d been backing vocalist until that point) taking on more a more vocal role set them on a path of recovery. Lopez sings lead on the new track, and holds his own admirably. Meantime, life happens. Ultimately, as somebody who digs the band, I’m glad to hear how much “Running Hot” sounds like Sun Voyager, with a punker sneer pushed forward by Kyle Beach‘s drums and a motor riff that opens to a catchy hook.
There’s a break, but the charge in “Running Hot” has little actual letup, and thinking of it as the middle section of a forthcoming three-part work named by the band as ‘Vandromeda’ — whether that’ll eventually be an EP or something else, I don’t know, but it’s a great title so I hope they do something with it — explains the immediacy of the start and the quick finish. Whatever is to come, it’s reassuring to know the momentum built in “Running Hot” is leading to something, even if the shape of what is as yet elusive. We’ll find out when we get there.
In the meantime, with that Brooklyn show this weekend and more live activity on the horizon, Sun Voyager emerge from their reconfiguration precisely as one would hope; clawing at the fabric of the universe like a cat hanging on curtains. Whenever there’s more, and whatever shape it takes, I can’t wait to hear it.
As always, I hope you enjoy:
Sun Voyager on “Running Hot”:
It’s been a while since our last record. Two of us have kids now, the pace shifted, and Shaman Smoke entered the fold. We dropped our tuning and leaned into something heavier. The grooves got chunkier. We did too.
Running Hot is the second movement of a three-part saga we’re calling Vandromeda. It builds tension, hits full burn, and lands with purpose – we are dropping you in at top speed.
This is the first taste. No streaming date to announce.
Recorded at Artfarm Recording, Accord, NY
Mixed and engineered by Dave Andersen
Mastered by Alan Douches, West West Side Music
Logo design by John Scarperia
Original photo by Shaman Smoke
Artwork by Kim Zangrando
Sun Voyager:
Shaman Smoke – Guitar, Vocals
Stefan Mersch – Bass, Vocals
Kyle Beach – Drums
Nice! I’m glad they finally recorded with the “new” lineup (it’s been a few years since the old one) and this sounds like them. With Christian is the band, they sound totally different so I stopped listening to the old albums after he joined. (Note, I like this lineup the best.)