Wild Sun are finding themselves between rock and a sensitive place.
The Rhode Island alt-rock trio released their debut album Little Truths a few months ago, and a little over a year later will find themselves on a new Elliott Smith compilation titled Say Yes, alongside Amanda Palmer, Waxahatchee, J Mascis, and others. In the meantime, while we await their take on Smith’s “Easy Way Out”, this week Wild Sun have released a new two-track EP that takes their sound to higher, more grandiose places while maintaining the emotive passion that’s made them one of the Ocean State’s best new bands.
The two-track release, out this Friday when Wild Sun play The Knickerbocker in their hometown of Westerly, can be heard below via Vanyaland exclusive.
“We are really excited to share these new songs”, says guitarist and vocalist Glenn Kendzia. “They are a bit heavier than our debut album, and capture a lot of the energy we put into our live show. Thematically, they pick up right where Little Truths, left off in terms of honesty and personal reflection”.
The band aimed to capture their raw live energy on the new recordings by cramming all their live gear into a small Rhode Island room, stacking the amps and turning them all up. “We know we are an alternative rock band”, Kendzia adds, “but wanted to give these specific songs the heavy, loud treatment”. That becomes apparent on the soaring conclusion of opener “Head First”, and the slow-burn builder of the title track, which ventures into post-rock territory without losing its pop core.
Of their contribution to Say Yes, Kendzia says: “The Elliott Smith tribute album is a huge honor to be a part of. Elliott is one of my favorite songwriters ever, and his writing is extremely influential to me in his candor and honesty… The song we covered, ‘Easy Way Out,’ is one of those songs that hit me so hard the first time I heard it, that I listened over and over to it and believed it was somehow written for exactly how I felt at the time I first heard it. I never shook that relationship with the song, and when we we’re asked to be a part of this album, that song was the one I had to do.”
As the band finishes their sophomore album, they’ll be playing Northside Festival in Brooklyn this June, and
opening for the Wombats as part of Providence’s WBRU Summer Concert Series on August 12.