SUNWATCHERS - Music Is Victory Over Time LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition "Kool-Aid Sunflare" colour vinyl.

"Sunwatchers seem to answer the question of “what if prog-rock prioritized feeling good over virtuosic feats of talent?”, and this newest one is a particularly pleasant trip, like walking into a surprise party filled with friends you haven’t seen in years. They’re mostly instrumental (there’s at least one or two group yells), a holy trio of guitar/bass/drums with a fourth auxiliary member (sax, keys and vibraphone), and they comfortably balance the strenuousness of their music with a sense of unfiltered joy.

They’re versatile, too: opener “World People” is feeding me Mahavishnu Orchestra vibes, but “Foams” features the majestic, non-Western guitar soloing I’d associate with the Bishop brothers, whereas “Tumulus” hypnotizes with a very Natural Information Society-sounding sax loop. It’s all in that sort of mysteriously-spiritual / experimental-rock camp, I suppose, but there’s plenty of open space within those confines for Sunwatchers to try most anything without losing their internal script.

They certainly seem capable of pulling anything off, like they could back up Terry Riley or Rosali Middleman at a moment’s notice with equal aplomb, though these dazzling instrumentals are headliner-material no matter who else is on the bill." - YGR