Synths are back, Sunshine

The Sunshine Underground - 53 Degrees, Preston - October 22
The Sunshine UndergroundThe Sunshine Underground
The Sunshine Underground

The Sunshine Underground hit Preston this autumn.

The electronic trio, who released eponymous third album last month and single Finally We Arrive this month, play Preston’s 53 Degrees on Wednesday, October 22.

Frontman Craig Wellington says Finally We Arrive was “a benchmark for how the rest of the album was going to sound... a real breakthrough in what we were trying to achieve with this record”.

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Hard beats and glittering synths mix with The Sunshine Underground’s original dance-punk origins.

Finally We Arrive comes backed with remixes by Justin Robertson, Tyde, and Loucet.

The Leeds band had a rethink following a parting with their management and then bassist Daley Smith.

“Musically, there were no limits, and it forced us to write songs in a different way,” explains Craig.

“We were excited by the idea of moving things around.”

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It’s been eight years since their explosive 2006 debut Raise The Alarm – a dance-punk record

Two sold out tours resulted in a cult following prone to waving boxes of Yorkshire Tea in the air at gigs.

Craig said: “We always expressed ourselves in a band format: two guitars, a bass and everyone writing songs around the drum kit.

“It was time to get our heads around production and beat programming.”

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The tracks were written around a drum machine and synths featured heavily.

Craig added: “I went through a big period of listening to 80s/90s synth-pop and I still do. This was a good opportunity to explore that, play on it, and get those Human League style influences out. It’s definitely something you can hear in the record.”

“In the early days of writing, it felt fine for there to be no drums and guitars” says Craig, “but over time we started to reintroduce those elements. Real drums and real bass instead of all synth.”

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