Sounds like…

If The Breeders did grunge.

The review

Power chords, noisy hooks and rousing riffs. Nothing beats a full beans alt-grunge band and that is what Sunlust bring to the table. The trio from Toronto expanded their debut EP into a debut LP thanks to the pandemic slowing everything down. It is a wonderfully raucous album that is full of rowdy anthems.

Across the albums near 40-minute runtime, Sunlust largely work huge two chord patterns with a third or fourth chord thrown in at the end of a phrase. It is exactly what I expect from top tier grunge where its about the feeling and repetitive grind. Singer Stephanie has a wide vocal range that flips from Courtney Love to Charleyy Bliss. She has the ability to weave that Americana whine into her voice that makes her both in and out of tune at the same time. It suits the emergency drama that the guitars, bass and drums provide. The drums in particular are strong throughout the album.

Highlights include the superb ‘Pearl Brain’ that evokes everything grunge is about and pops a cherry on top. Then smashes it. ‘Action Figure’ reminds me of Belly with its cowboy riffs. ‘Orange’ is a hidden Hole song, right down to the way the guitars echo out. ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Sad Sap’ show that outside of chord smashing, Sunlust can make mid-tempo and slower tracker tracks absolute bangers too.

‘Geek Confessions’ has a few rough around the edges moments. This is because you can hear that songs have been produced in different sessions and so they don’t quite feel uniformly mastered. It is a small niggle though. Sunlust has created a raw and blaring album that I’ll have blasting out loud for when I need my grungy moments of angst and weariness of the world.

Recommended track: Pearl Brain

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