Rayon’s ‘Colour’ album – released in October 2022 – presented twelve tracks of pleasingly angular indie/post rock throughout a vinyl friendly forty minutes. Although there were times when main man Eric Sabatino’s work couldn’t claim to be one hundred percent original, the best bits of that long player were hugely entertaining. The highlights really showed off a band who could work a great riff: ‘Canada’ attacked with a harsh guitar sound coupled with a funky bassline, sounding like a deep cut from XTC’s ‘Drums & Wires’ before introducing a faintly psychedelic vocal; ‘Come Along’ mixed classic indie rock riffs with a finely tuned sinister edge, occasionally sounding like Robyn Hitchcock fronting the early 80s Cure, and ‘Blue Nights’ applied a fierce jangle and contrasted that with a vocal that was far more attuned with a dream pop sound, creating something surprisingly effective.
Tag Archives: sun atoms
PETE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Sea Of Eyes / The Lamplighters remix EP
Formed in 1997, the curiously named Pete International Airport is a musical project featuring the talents of Dandy Warhols man Peter Holmström (also of Sun Atoms, a band who released some excellent material in 2024), and Collin Hegna of Federale, a genre-hopping act who also offered one of 2024’s finest discs.
Under their Pete International Airport moniker, these musicians and other assorted friends have explored various sounds, usually veering towards influences from the 80s and 90s alternative scenes. In the last quarter of 2023, the band made a welcome comeback with their long player ‘It Felt Like The End of The World’ – the first wholly new PIA work since 2017 – which introduced new listeners to their indie/goth/rock sounds.
Listen: Lions, Love (…and Lies): A Real Gone Sampler 2024
2024 was a great year. Real Gone celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. It was the website’s most successful year to date. We picked up a lot of new supporters and covered a wealth of new music. Our detailed reviews continued to be popular with the readers, and our Singles Bar really caught the attention of those looking for a quicker fix of new music.
SUN ATOMS – Everything Forever
On their 2021 LP ‘Let There Be Light’, alternative rock band Sun Atoms shared some great music. That record’s quieter and more downbeat moments blended elements of goth pop with a very retro guitar twang, often falling somewhere between the classic, introspective songwriting of Leonard Cohen and the more contemporary moods of Tindersticks. When approaching busier sounds, the material mixed light electronica with spoken word passages. With other moments utilising muted trumpets and very retro sounding backing vocals, the album created a pleasingly varied listening experience.
SUN ATOMS – Take This Love / And The Lion Saw The UFO
Near the beginning of 2024, US post punk band Sun Atoms broke a near three year silence when they released the single ‘Ceiling Tiles’. That track provided the perfect reminder of their great sound with its angular riffs, pulsing rhythms and light gothic tones. In a little over five minutes, the music transported the listener back to the early 90s with its alternative feel, but Sun Atoms’ music still played very well in the present.