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If you were just getting your first glimpse of Gold Coast four-piece TSUN, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d just stepped off the album cover of The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. All paisley shirts, facial hair and wild locks, the band look the epitome of psychedelic rock – and the music itself certainly lives up to the band’s aesthetic standards.
The Gold Coast’s own TSUN stake their claim as the next big thing to come from the Aussie psych-rock movement with the nuanced new single Indro Chaudhuri.
TSUN’s psych-rock sound evokes successful Aussie acts such as Pond and Tame Impala, as well as British band Temples, and sits on the hardcore hallucinogenic end of the psychedelic spectrum. Themes of mysticism, magic and transcendence shimmer in and out of the charmingly layered harmonies and a myriad of organ and keyboard tones. TSUN consists of Karl Williams (not the one you’re thinking of), Joel Sparkes, Jared Franzen and Juniper Choir.
They formed in 2012, and since have supported the likes of Pond and Ariel Pink, as well as playing their own headline gigs. Originally named ‘Sun’ the band claim that “One day the letter T just appeared and it all made sense, because it made no sense at all.”
Past tunes like Marmalade and Judgement Road, both released in 2013, have a soul bent to them, with some pretty killer vocals belted out by Williams. Judgement Road in particular wrenches the old aorta, with Williams wailing “Don’t leave me” over and over. More recently, the band’s tunes have upped the psych-rock ante, bringing the rhythm section forward a tad and tending towards a fluidity of form not as present in earlier recordings.
Latest single Indro Chaudhuri was recorded in the mountains of Mullumbimby with former Wolfmother drummer Dave Aitkens playing producer. Indro Chauduri sees the band’s vocals become more simplified in structure, moving away from the soulful swagger of previous recordings towards a more nuanced, layered, harmonic vibe. While this tune could easily be dismissed as derivative, Indro Chaudhuri manages to stay on the right side of the 21st century, thanks to a liberal use of synths and tight production.
If the (epic) success of Australian psych-rock of late is anything to go by, TSUN are set to make if not waves, then some pretty large ripples. Keep an eye out for the guys as they hit Byron, Goldy and Brisvegas to promote their new track during May.
Friday 15 May – Elsewhere, Gold Coast
Saturday 16 May – Heya Bar, Brisbane
Saturday 23 May – The Northern
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