I don’t think New York City could have had a more perfect weekend weather wise, and my lady even busted out her warm weather ray bans…just in time for this warm weather I stumbled across Sunglasses.
Sunglasses are beach influenced electronica coming from Savannah, Georgia…not to far from my home town of Charleston SC, where this genre seems to be thriving (if you haven’t checked out South Carolina’s native sons Washed Out and Toro Y Moi you might want to do that).
While there are lots of bands riffing on the beach theme these days, there is just something about Sunglasses’ “Referee” that is particular infectious. I wasn’t expecting what I got when I played “Referee” for the first time. A track that just starts out with the sound of rain that begins to slowly build up to vocals using electronics and minimal percussion. Only after a full minute goes by does the full beach dance party kicks in. The track continues to talk about cold weather, but inside it only evokes signs of spring and even the far away summer. ”Referees” was the first song on a mix I made for a gathering I attended last week. About half way through this mind penetrating song three of the ladies in the room were grooving to it, and even trying to check my iPod to see what it was. While totally into the song afterwards they asked “who is this?,” and then they proceeded to say it sounded a bit like Animal Collective. But if Sunglasses can get them dancing after only two minutes that can’t be a bad thing at all.
This duo comprised of Samuel Cooper and the mysterious entity known only as Baby Seal have only released two tracks into the world, but both worthy of recognition. When a band releases two songs, and both are this good I can’t help to put them on my list of artists to watch out for as 2010 progresses. These bands from the South move fast…start rocking this jam now before you are asking…”What is Sunglasses?”
[mp3] Sunglasses- “Referees”
——————————————–
- Photo via Nathan Jones Photography for Sunglasses.
- This is part of my Speed Dating series. You can read more about singles I have featured in this series here.
