Artist: Sunnsetter
Album: The best that I can be.
Release Date: March 31, 2023
Genre: Alternative
Sunnsetter (aka Andrew McLeod) has unveiled their ten-song album, The best that I can be., via Paper Bag Records. The album title intentionally reads as a sentence – maybe even more of a mission statement. Mostly, it acknowledges the process of making the record, which allowed Andrew to ultimately arrive at the personal place and feel as the album title suggests.
This album follows their earlier albums, All watched over by machines of loving grace and The Love You Withhold Is The Pain You Carry.
Of the album Andrew – who is also a collaborator with and contributor to twice Polaris nominated and shortlisted ZOON, headed by Daniel Monkman, and Juno nominated, OMBIIGIZI says,
“These songs are something I have been working towards for the better part of three years. During this time, I have grieved the loss of a close friend/bandmate and continuously dealt with my journey of sobriety and struggles with mental well being, concepts around gender identity and queerness; while simultaneously, of course, being thrown into even more chaos via the pandemic. I hope that these songs can make sense to the people who have never heard my music and the people who have supported me along the way. This is simply the best that I can be, through song, and the need to share that feeling with the world is what has kept me going this entire time.”
The album features previous singles, “Float In Circles,” “Always Talk, Never Speak,” and “Surely everything’s alright.”
“In the Ocean” is a dreamy and ethereal track that begins with a gentle beat, soon joined by Andrew’s enchanting vocals. The lyrics pull the listener into the track, allowing them to visualize it as it unfolds.
“Down on myself, no sees everything seems like all of these days, and it comes never stopping, well I know what I need in myself from the ocean, I know, what I see in myself, from the ocean of,” could easily be translated to different meanings by different people, which is precisely what makes a song both relatable and memorable.
Coming in at track six, the album’s focus track, “The Whole World that Turns Around Itself,” is a beautiful instrumental track that gradually builds in intensity. From the beginning, the shimmering intro pulls the listener in and has a trance-like effect. Throughout the song, the melody evokes a dreamy and introspective tone. The way the song’s different elements come together is truly magical, with each layer adding to the overall sense of mood and emotion.
“This track is one of the first things I created when my partner and I moved into our new house in rural Norfolk county. I found myself realizing there was an album coming together; I had about 20+ pieces of music to work from and I was trying to pair down but also create more tracks that really captured the mood of how I was feeling at the time. After finishing this track I remember thinking to myself that I had found a more central mood for this album as a whole and ended up scrapping a bunch of the songs I had previously recorded and almost starting from scratch.”
Overall, the album is a stunningly beautiful and hauntingly ethereal journey that’s a perfect example of how music can transport us to another world.