Sunnsetter Confirms New Music For 2024
Sunnsetter is the music project of accomplished and prolific multi-instrumentalist, composer, and mixing engineer, Andrew McLeod who has been releasing their solo music since 2014.
Last year they released, The best that I can be. (their debut album with Paper Bag Records) and now, they’ve offered up a blistering reimagining of their own song, “I ACTUALLY DON’T WANNA DIE,” which appeared on Sunnsetter’s 2018 release Worrybody. The reboot of the track hints at the intention and development of Sunnsetter’s musical mindset: a masterful collision of soft and loud, and genre meshing that both whiplash the listener and sonically appeases the soul with the melodic dexterity they manage to achieve within a tidal wave of sound.
From last year to now, Sunnsetter has solidified into a fully-fledged band supporting McLeod which includes: Cole Sefton (guitar), Hannah Edgerton (bass/vocals), Trevor Cooke (drums), and Kyle Gottschalk (keyboards), all of whom contributed, and played on the new version of the song.
“The last year and a half has been wonderful, we have journeyed and grown as a group of people, and as a band,” says Andrew. “Having these people around to turn this dream into a reality has been an incredible experience. We all love to play music and we all have a similar outlook on how this can work. This song in particular we have taken it from a sad personal experience, lofi and raw original recording, into this anthem about wanting to live, and it only made sense to juxtapose this and the lyrical content with us experiencing life as friends on the road.”
The collective has been playings consistently and constantly over the past year, including at the Paper Bag Records artist showcase in March, just prior to the group embarking to the U.S. to play New Colossus and SxSW, Fittingly, the video for “I ACTUALLY DON’T WANNA DIE” captures the band together on tour.
“’I ACTUALLY DON’T WANNA DIE’” has always been important to me, and the band loves to play it, Andrew continues. “We turned it into something it never was, or maybe better yet, the thing it was supposed to be but wasn’t until now; so it feels very genuine to play this song with these people and live this new experience around it. The song itself isn’t tied to anything, except the desire to preserve your life, which I think many people can resonate with and why it’s stuck around.”
Sunnsetter works primarily from their idyllic home studio in rural Norfolk County. Andrew is also a collaborator with and contributor to three-time Polaris nominated/ twice shortlisted, Juno nominated ZOON, the solo music project of Daniel Monkman, and 2023 Juno nominee, OMBIIGIZI.