Polyvinyl Records have released Antenna to the Afterworld, the new album by SF’s Sonny & the Sunsets. The first video (debuted on Stereogum), “Palm Reader”, was directed by the prolific, if not genius, Sonny Smith, the guy who wrote 200 songs for 100 fictional bands’ albums. The video, featuring the acting talents of the band’s members, follows a couple into their local art house theater where they view a gritty, Euro-inspired, fight to the death between two rival musicians playing in a city park.
The video is so clever and compelling that it almost, but not entirely, outfoxes the song itself — a witty, Modern Lovers-esque story of life, love, and death as read in the lines on his palm by a confused palm reader.
I love the lo-fi warmth and what sounds like either a baritone guitar or possibly detuned hollow body with slap echo that carries the track. The vocals are dry, distorted, and out front, reminding me of the recordings my friends and I used to make on a portable cassette recorder (except Sonny’s songs are much better). Fucking love this shit. Thumbs up.
Buy the album HERE