The Sunshine Factory/ “Sugar” / Saint Marie Records

Heavy distortions and synths aplenty! Fun album with plenty of catchy melodies, often reminiscent of glorious riff-laden 90s music. Light male and female vocals present, male showcased more though seems to be the weaker of the two. For whatever reason, I’m filled with the urge to liken each track to another artist. How annoying! In general, vocals sound vaguely Elliott Smithy at times. Background alternates between dreamy feel and 90s guitar-solo distortion. Kind of an odd but nice mish mash of disparate genres.

No FCCs detected. Favorites include: 2, 3, 5, 8.

1. 6:25 Dreamy feminine male vocals, garage band meets dreamy synth. Melody/sound reminds me a bit of Garbage. Catchy melody but drags on a bit.
2. *3:18 Starts with heavily distorted guitars, catchy riff, male/female layered vocals are a sidenote, reminiscent a bit of Luscious Jackson.
3. *3:39 Bendy strummed guitar, sort of happy-go-lucky. Sounds a bit like early, slightly upbeat Elliott Smith (I swear, there was, like, one song…) “Ballad of Big Nothing”??
4. 4:38 Somewhat cheesy midtempo love song. Last minute changes to warped sounds.
5. *4:03 Heavy distorted guitars, nice occasional dissonance with vocals.
6. 3:15 Very dreamy, light electric guitar strumming, harmonium evocative of “King of Carrot Flowers” riff.
7. 6:29 Uptempo, fast strummed electric guitars, synth solos, Last minute dedicated to warped sounds again.
8. *4:13 Slower, light strummed guitar/synths in background, vocals stand out. Two quaky and sad/sweet violin solos, melts nicely with synths. Pretty from start to finish.
9. 4:09 Bendy high guitar chords, fairly standard rock song.
10. 5:20 Once again opens like a riff from a Garbage song. Distorted guitars, minor chords, “ooh” harmonies in chorus/end. Vocal flourishes in verse and bridge sound a bit Middle Eastern. No sound in last 8 seconds.
Deniz Cebenoyan