Western Australia four-piece darlings Sunsick bring it on their latest single, Better Off Alone.
Sunsick have captured the energy of a listless road trip and turned it into a shimmering, dreamy masterpiece. The way the guitars shimmer and the vocals just float along…it’s like falling in love on a hot summer day. If you’re not already a Sunsick fan, you’re better off alone, because we’re fully obsessed over here.
You know those road trips where the sun trickles through the windscreen and the breeze flows all-too perfectly through the window? If there was a sonic equivalent of that brief summery moment, it’d be Sunsick’s new single Better Off Alone, a track so blissfully nostalgic you can almost hear it blaring through the trembly speakers of a busted-up Holden hatchback. So hop into cruise control and kick your feet up on the dashboard because with Better Off Alone, Sunsick have enshrined an afternoon joyride into song.
The single — which feels like the indie lovechild of Middle Kids and Kings of Leon — results in a fusion of gritty and emotive melodies, layered with a distinctive Australian flair, a formula that captivates and ignites the listener’s senses from the start with blissful guitar strums courtesy of Sunsick bandmates Bailey Thompson and Dominique Giles, the latter of whom works the microphone with buttery vocals. Fellow singer and bandmate Jess Humby later assists with harmonies so ascendent you might touch the clouds, with Sunsick drummer Zavier Morey offering a subtle percussive throughline.
The fuzz rock instrumentation of Better Off Alone belies the track’s otherwise melancholic lyrics, as Giles sings of an uninterested partner “who’s not even around,” cleverly likening them to “a wall that’s got a pretty face.” Later, Giles laments being “left on my own,” before an instrumental bridge makes way for some searing final words. “I’ve tried,” Giles relents atop a soaring backing melody, “[I’m] better off alone.”
Sunsick’s mastery of their surf-ready sound is perhaps a result of their birthplace, having formed the band along Australia’s west coast. Better Off Alone marks Sunsick’s first single of 2023 and fifth overall, with their debut release arriving in 2021’s Be With Me. Elsewhere, the band has shared fellow standalone singles Open Sky, Mess Today and Losing Touch, the last of which arrived this past September.
Sunsick will celebrate the release of Better Off Alone with a single launch party at Scarborough’s Indian Ocean Hotel in Western Australia on April 28. The four-piece will be joined onstage by support acts Liz-Zard, Fool Nelson and Blue Honey, with tickets available now here. The show will add to an already stacked schedule of live shows for the band, having opened for the likes of Death By Denim and Great Gable in 2022.
Listen to Sunsick’s new single Better Off Alone above.
