Shimmering in a heat haze and beaching on Merseyside’s shores between gently lapping waves, Sundowners announce their return with the title track from their forthcoming album Pulling Back The Night. Five becomes two as original members, Fiona Skelly and Niamh Rowe reveal the first single, co-written with indie-pop powerhouse, Clean Cut Kid, from their third long-player, one sculpted in collaborative spirit with Paul Weller, Steve Craddock and members of The Coral.
The seas of time can cut coldly into relationships with every tide, but the creative pull of Skelly and Rowe towards each other, compelled by memories of time together and forced time apart, is a force beyond either’s reckoning. Returning to write together for the pure joy of creating and hearing the voices of one and the other, the call was also heard by the friends who rallied to join them.
Written and recorded around the Wirral, Liverpool and Surrey, and mixed by James Skelly, a sense of beautiful yearning pervades the free-flowing alt-folk of Pulling Back The Night, moored in choppy waters at the confluence of pain and joy.
Sundowners explain the single in brief, saying: “Tumultuous lovers whose strengths are their weaknesses. Sick with self-destruction and the only cure is each other.”
Influences including Jackson Browne, Shangri La’s, Rolling Stones, Mapache, Drug Dealer, Weyes Blood, Kacy and Clayton and Marlon Williams can, by Skelly and Rowe’s open admission, claim a place amongst the constituency of greats whose weight is felt across Pulling Back The Night. The ten-track album, released on Fri 22 April 2022 is Sundowners’ third, following 2015’s self-titled debut and 2017’s cinematic follow-up, Cut The Master.
As well as Mike and Evelyn of Clean Cut Kid joining Sundowners for the first single, Pulling Back The Night’s impressive list of collaborations can now be revealed, starting with two tracks co-written with Paul Weller, titled Night Watcher and A Thousand Doors, alongside further tracks recorded with Weller and drummer Steve Pilgrim. The Coral’s Nick Power shares credits on I’m Not The One as Steve Craddock joins on guitars, James Skelly takes a co-writing and performing position on Wild Sisters, while their bandmate, the multi-instrumentalist Paul Molloy appears on five out of ten.
