“Psychedelic synth-touch making it impossible not to hit repeat” – Gigslutz
“Brilliant tunes – right up my street” – Nick Power, The Coral
North London based band West Of The Sun return with a new single “Siberian Hysteria” to be released on the 6th May 2016 via Phoney War Records.
Self-produced by West Of The Sun and recorded at the famous Hackney Road Studios by renowned engineer Shuta Shinoda whose back catalogue of work features legendary artists Hot Chip, Primal Scream, Spiritualised, The Horrors and Vampire Weekend. Mastering was handled by industry favourite Noel Summerville (Pink Floyd, The White Stripes) who helps form the single’s rich sound – ringing echoes of The Doors, Stone Roses, early Kasabian and even The Chemical Brothers.
Psychedelic rock and roll five piece who, having formed in 2013, have to-date self-released 2 EP’s ‘Fountains Of Fire’ and ‘Scatterbrains’, and have now recorded and produced their debut full album set for release later this year. West of the Sun have played support slots with bands such as The Merrylees, Detroit Social Club, Twisted Wheel and Kassassin Street. With sell-out appearances at London’s illustrious venues 100 Club and Bush Hall, and two appearances at Camden Rocks Festival under their belt, the band are set to return in the Spring to tour across the UK – having so far confirmed headline shows at the O2 Islington and Borderline in London and The Zanzibar in Liverpool.
Frontmen Luke Ward and Joe Stratton both hailing from the north of England and singing in their natural accents, provide a kaleidoscopic galloping swagger to the band’s delicately-arranged, often neurotic, compositions. Fusing elements of psychedelia, baroque, spaghetti westerns, trip-hop beats and conventional guitar-laden rock and roll, they have themselves referred to their sound as coming from the ‘big beat manifesto’, and the result is a sound that falls somewhere between Echo & The Bunnymen and Django Django.
“Siberian Hysteria” is dreamy psychedelia, conjoined between the blissed-out and the bludgeoning. Beginning with flashes of Primal Scream the track takes many turns, quickly shifting through rhythmic marches paying homage to the likes of Kasabian, while the vocals are delivered with the eerie sentiments of The Coral and The Doors.
Guitarist and co-songwriter Michael Howes explained the process of creating “Siberian Hysteria”:
“We jammed around with this song for a while and had the verses, but it was working more as a loop rather than a ‘song’… One day I started messing around with that guitar hook and it began to manifest itself into something catchy. It led us for some bizarre reason to start hearing a ravey sort of intro with loads of synths and hi-hats going on. Kind of intense and chaotic. So we gave it a go and I think the magic happened when we stuck the two together! It really takes a different tangent once it breaks into that Stoogesy glam rock stomp, and we’re quite proud of that. We wanted it to sound like Fatboy Slim mixing a BRMC track.”
Upcoming dates:
7th May 2016 – The Borderline, London
For the latest tour dates, releases and more, please go to:
West of the Sun Official Website
