TRACK PREMIERE: SUN ATOMS – TAKE THIS LOVE B/W AND THE LION SAW THE UFO

You may have already heard the Sun Atoms single ‘Take This Love’, but you won’t have heard the B-Side ‘And The Lion Saw The UFO’ until now. The Sun Atoms have given Joyzine readers a chance to hear it on our site first.

Whereas ‘Take This Love’ is a subterranean lollop of low register synth-riffs, tumbling drums and vocals that prowl menacingly around the backing, ‘And The Lion Saw The UFO’ brings a wash of psychedelia to the mix. The UFO in question could easily be the 1960s London club that hosted everyone from Yoko Ono and Soft Machine to Syd Barret-era Pink Floyd. The bass, drums and percussion drive this 7-minute track along as synths and guitar swirl in and out like liquid light art and the trumpet threaded throughout is sublime. The vocals are spirit-like – almost whispered – and the whole effect is gloriously soporific warmed, I imagine, by solar radiation.

Singer and guitarist Jsun Atoms says of ‘And The Lion Saw The UFO’, “I was writing the lyrics for “Lion” at an entirely off the grid location in Kipahulu about 30 miles past Hana on Maui. My wife Maria and I hadn’t seen other humans in 4 days, and we were watching a mongoose run through the garden and talking about “After The Goldrush” and how Neil Young dreams of silver spaceships that were “flying Mother Nature’s silver seed into the sun” and it led us down a whole wormhole of ideas and journaling about non-human experiences and that animals all over the planet may be having close encounters as we speak.

In our escape from civilization for this extended period, looking at the stars, the relief and peace was the absence of the bombardment of a world constantly hurling “too much information” at us. When Pete sent the song off to Jagz for mixing, there were about 6 more verses on the subject. Thankfully, for the sake of the song, Jagz removed these details and kept the verses and choruses that were really working.”

Don’t be surprised if this gentle collage of motorik delights doesn’t have you sculpting the Devils Tower out of mashed potato and booking a trip to Wyoming to greet the arrival of our new extra-terrestrial friends.

Sun Atoms are Peter G. Holmström – bass, guitar, sequencers, keys, xylophone, June Kang – MPC, synths, percussion, guitar, Derek Spencer Longoria-Gomez – guitar, vocals, Mars de Ponte – guitar, keys, vocals, horns, Eric Rubalcava – drums, percussion and Jsun Atoms – vocals, guitar.

The two tracks are available to buy and stream via Bandcamp and you can also pre-order a special 7” vinyl copy from Little Cloud Records. You can also check out the trippy video for ‘Take This Love’ below.