Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

Sundowner - We Chase the Waves

Sundowner, if you didn’t know, is the solo project of Lawrence Arms guitarist/singer Chris McCaughan. He keeps busy during his primary band’s unfortunate downtime with this act, and We Chase the Waves is his second release under this moniker, the follow-up to 2007′s Four One Five Two (Red Scare Industries).

I can’t think of a witty intro about Chris. I just get all emotional that I’ll probably never see The Lawrence Arms live. So let’s get down to business, eh?

So, as I bet you figured- or assumed if you’ve heard Four One Five Two- the album is primarily just Chris and his guitar. The songs here honestly remind me of acoustic covers of Larry Arms songs. Not surprising, I suppose, but even more so than Chris’s bandmate Brendan’s album of actual Larries covers did. Weird, huh? At any rate, I could definitely hear some of these sped up and as b-sides to The Greatest Story Ever Told. Particularly songs like “Whales and Sharks.” This is meant as an endorsement, by-the-bye, as I love The Greatest Story Ever Told quite a bit.

Chris’s vocals can be an acquired taste, especially in a stripped-down setting like this, but he sounds very confident here. The lengthy recording process could be responsible, allowing many retakes and an opportunity to get very comfortable with the material. The result is a record that convincingly conveys the emotions he’s singing about.

With a few exceptions- like the excellent lead song, “In the Flicker,”- the songs have a bounciness to them that work with the bright blue flowers on the cover to give a sense of sunny weather and summer. I could drive along a coast to the beach with this record as my companion; much like last year’s Chris Wollard & the Ship Thieves, this record excels as a summer jam. Not to say it won’t be a richly rewarding listen during other seasons, but boy howdy is it suited for summer.

If you liked Four One Five Two, there’s no reason you should sleep on this one. I find it to be a stronger release than that first record, and well worth looking into. And it’s streaming over on Punknews, so once again, you lack excuses. Now go on, get into it!

Tags: sundowner