Sunking is a band born out of restlessness. As members of the jazz fusion powerhouse High Pulp, the trio of Bobby Granfelt, Antoine Martel, and Victory Nguyen create innovative and expansive examples of how jazz has evolved to fit modern times. Even with the borderless atmosphere and creative freedom offered by working with a large jazz ensemble, three of High Pulp’s members still felt as if there was more to say, more to experiment with, and even fresher terrain for their freewheeling approach to explore. This is where Sunking comes in, as a means for the trio to allow their loftiest visions to flourish, like on the beautifully clunky and wonderfully weird SMUG LP from 2022.
It has been three years since Sunking emerged with new music, but the wait is finally over with I Don’t Like My Telephone. This is the band’s second LP with Anti Records and the first with Nguyen as a member of Sunking. The new 12-song LP is even more sprawling, daring, and twisted than the band’s previous outings, allowing the band’s experimentation to feel stadium-sized while maintaining the quaint and welcoming atmosphere that made Sunking such an exciting band to begin with. Miraculously, Sunking successfully balanced their ambitions with their prowess, and the result is a head-spinning album built around a sonic conflict that is intense and psychedelic.
I Don’t Like My Telephone explores the mortal tug of war between man and technology by employing subtle electronic elements and placing them next to sweeping, organic jazz arrangements, creating an enticing contradiction for the listener to immerse themselves in. The album is structured like a debate, with the beeps and blips of the electronic side having the floor to themselves while allowing the jazz-leaning songs to have an equally open floor to speak from. It’s a heated battle between nostalgia and the future, a war that has been fought time and time again, but Sunking lays out the melee across a stunning set of songs that pushes their sound to new heights.
The clash starts as soon as you press play on I Don’t Like My Telephone. The space-aged and funky “CLOWN CAMP” feuds with the blissful and swinging jazz of the Niki Randa-assisted “HOW TO SWING,” introducing the core of the concept album right out of the gate. Sunking sets the tone for their latest album in a dramatic fashion, almost as theatrical as the rest of I Don’t Like My Telephone. The band’s daring ventures into conceptual albums turned out to be an instant success. Still, aside from its reconfigured artistic approach, I Don’t Like My Telephone is simply a phenomenally raw and cathartic LP.
While it is easy to get lost in the ideas explored in Sunking’s latest concept, the music itself showcases the band’s growth infectiously. Moments like punch-drunk “TAP WATER” and the mesmerizing electronics of the single “CIRCUIT CITY” highlight Sunking’s love for the famed Los Angeles Hip-hop beat scene. At the same time, the lush and whimsical “CASTLE IN THE SKY” adds a childlike element to the tracklist. Impressively, Sunking can tackle all these conflicting sonic worlds and melt them into a consistent LP that puts the band’s growth and audacious approach into a blinding spotlight.
