On March 31, Sunnsetter — the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording engineer + Zoon/OMBIIGIZI collaborator Andrew McLeod — is sharing a brand new LP entitled The best that I can be. via Paper Bag Records.
“These songs are something I have been working towards for the better part of 3 years,” said McLeod of the forthcoming LP. “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.”
As further described by McLeod, much of the album was recorded in a transition period between when he lived in Hamilton with Daniel Monkman (Zoon), and when he and his partner first met. As he wrote: “During 2020, we found the house of our dreams in a rural area of Norfolk County, where we’ve been living since. I have been slowly building a recording studio in my shed, and eventually moving it onto the loft of the barn. The studio is called ‘Garden House Recording.’ The album was written over the course of those 3 years between Hamilton and my new home and mixed here in my new studio.”
As a follow-up to the record’s first singles, “Float in Circles” and “Always Talk, Never Speak,” today, McLeod shares “Surely Everything’s Alright” (ft. Guard Petal), alongside an accompanying music video that Glide is premiering below. The jangly ambient track recalls the static riffs and heavenly synths of classic shoegaze acts like My Bloody Valentine, while McLeod’s soft-spoken vocals evoke the acceptance and peace the track speaks of.
Speaking on the track, McLeod wrote:
“I spent many years in a dark place, weighed down by an underlying depression. A consistent and predictable up and down from various mental health issues for the majority of my life. This song and the subject matter of this album as a whole is an attempt at reconciling that behaviour and learning how to live with and change it for the better of myself and those around me. Reminding myself that surely everything is alright, even when I’ve tricked myself into believing otherwise.”
Over the years, Sunnsetter has shared a series of demos and one-off singles. Earlier this year, he shared an LP entitled All watched over by machines of loving grace, and his forthcoming LP, The best that I can be., marks a new era for the project. Stay tuned for more, coming soon.
