Sonny & the Sunsets – Moods Baby Moods

Well But Strangely Good Music

When a band like Sonny & the Sunsets releases a new record, one has to ask, what will they be encountering when listening to the album? The answer to that question lies mostly in the lyrics and as the band’s website puts it, in the “otherworldly despair” of its “busted beach-pop songs.” Regardless of its alliterative sounding genre, their new record Moods Baby Moods transcends the beach-pop that is so recognizable today and combines aspects of pop, folk, garage rock, and of course not forgetting the hilariously absurd lyrics of front man Sonny Smith.

First things first, the beginning of this record sounds like something many listeners have experienced before, but by the end, it transforms into an entirely different record unrecognizable from the opening notes. The first song on this record is deceiving. It allows one to think that it is going to be another experimental, neo-folk/garage rock record where the lyrics are spoken as opposed to sung. Only after “Death Cream, Pt. 2: ‘Watch Out For the Cream,’” ends and transitions into “Moods” does the listener realize that it is not just another avant-garde album recorded and produced by an equally avant-garde group from San Francisco. The funniest and catchiest song on the record is “Well But Strangely Hung Man” where a chorus gently murmurs in the background “He’s a well but strangely hung man” but the cleverest lyrics are “chaos in the world and chaos in his pants.”

This band headed by Smith (the musician and artist from Northern California) is a combination of experimental folk music with unconventional lyrics as well as garage rock. While the unions between these two genres may sound daunting, they are surprisingly accessible. By that, it is meant that despite the abstruse sentiments attached to such kinds of music, Sonny & the Sunsets invites listeners, no matter what their musical background, into their coherent yet bizarre world. If one is looking for a chuckle as well as some catchy tunes, the listener will find the solution in Moods Baby Moods.