Sunset Lines shares new single "In the Garden"

Sunset Lines’ first ever full-length album, The Longest Day In June, out later this year, was written during a time of cataclysmic change for the quartet’s primary songwriter, Liz Brooks. Yet, the synth pop band’s 10-song debut feels carefully curated, artistically defining, and utterly exhilarating.

“The songs on this record speak to rediscovering myself and my creativity. It’s something of a catalog of that time—the ups and downs, the freedom, and the restlessness,” Santa Cruz, California-based artist says. “But there is definitely a sense of fun, travel, and love. We keep it pretty tongue-in-cheek.”

Sunset Lines’ well-developed aesthetic finds serrated Radiohead and Pixies-style guitars poking through well-crafted pop songs lavished with stacked harmony vocals and layers of 1980s synth-pop etherealness. The group’s wall of sound is meticulously crafted by Paul McCorkle, the band’s guitarist, producer, and synth player. Brooks’s dreamy vocals and layered-meaning lyrics evocatively complement the nuanced musicality. “I like to write lyrics that sound like they are about one thing, but are really about personal or autobiographical subject matter,” she details.

Summer blues colors the music of the gorgeous piano ballad, In The Garden, a song that elegantly oozes the ennui and sadness that comes with the season ending. The recording showcases McCorkle’s production prowess, and his vocals which feature alongside Brooks. Story goes McCorkle stayed up until 4:00 in the morning one restless December night, layering synths and guitar parts, imbuing the spare piano ballad with Sunset Lines’ signature shimmer.

This lush and sweet sonic enhancement intriguingly offsets the song’s juicy domestic dispute/murder-suicide storyline. “I like contrasts between lyrics and music. With this song there is a pretty/gritty contrast,” Brooks says. One particularly eerie passage is: It doesn’t look like we’re asleep/But I’ll pray to the lord my soul will he keep?/Cos in the garden I spilled and salted the earth/Digging deep to keep my secrets from birth/Fun while it lasted for what it was worth.

The upcoming album, The Longest Day In June, was produced by McCorkle, mixed by Sean Paulson from Different Fur Studios (13 Floor Elevators, GRMLN, Kendrick Lamar), and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Jeff Lipton (Bob Dylan, Bon Iver, Magnetic Fields) from Peerless Mastering.