“Fear It Comes In Waves” is a product of Andrew McLeod’s infatuation with Philadelphia’s shoegaze scene. “To take myself out of the rut of writing slow songs, I wanted to make something that had some weight to it and felt like it was driving forward,” says McLeod, Sunnsetter’s wizard behind the curtain. “The riff was just something I started writing when I bought a baritone guitar and was experimenting with even lower open tunings than I’m already used to.”
An Ontario-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and engineer, McLeod also plays with the Canadian acts Zoon and OMBIIGIZI. Sunnsetter began in 2014 as the nom de plume for his solo work and has since evolved into a full-fledged quartet. We get a dynamic taste of that on “Fear It Comes In Waves,” from Sunnsetter’s upcoming LP, Heaven Hang Over Me, out November 15 on Paper Bag Records.
“This new record was inspired heavily by my love of heavier emo/shoegaze and post-rock,” says McLeod. “I know it’s a pretty big left turn from what I’ve released in the past, but it doesn’t feel out of place to me. This is the first time I’ve felt comfortable sharing this kind of material, as things I’ve made in the past didn’t quite feel up to the standard of what I wanted to create.”
The idea for the video came from Sunnsetter drummer Trevor Cooke. “We thought it would be funny to basically make a parody of rap/skate videos from the early 2000s with the super-close wide-angle lens and party scene,” says McLeod. “The overall aesthetic was made possible by my friend Connory Ballantyne, who shot the whole thing and processed it with this old digital look.”
We’re proud to premiere the video for “Fear It Comes In Waves.”
—Hobart Rowland