Last year, Sunny War turned what felt like a lifetime’s experience into a folk-punk concoction she titled Simple Syrup. In his review of the album, Bob Fish concluded “Both the large and small moments on Simple Syrup reflect an artist who is her own woman. She is a product of the years she has spent honing her craft, singing on the streets and in clubs. Sunny War knows what she wants and has found a way to create a world that not only reflects her view of the world but is better for her being in it. Remarkable, simply remarkable.”
Newly signed to New West Records, Sunny has been busy recording her new album ‘Anarchist Gospel‘ – which features My Morning Jacket’s Jim James & Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence – with Andrija Tokic (Hurray For The Riff Raff, Alabama Shakes).
Today, she releases her latest single ‘Higher’ featuring the legendary Dave Rawlings. As ever, she crafts her songs deeply and this offering is no exception. ‘Higher’ is also our Song of the Day.
Speaking about the new track, Sunny says; I wrote ‘Higher’ around this time last year, just a few days after my ex collected the last of his belongings from our apartment. The break up was fresh and I was thinking about all the years we spent together. I was also thinking about how much stronger I was before our relationship. I remember feeling really weak at the end… I knew it was over when I didn’t even have the energy to fight anymore. The ‘I am out of remedies, at least I’m not a liar’ lyric sums up how I felt when I knew it was really over and time to be honest about it. All I could do at that point was let go and try to figure out how to get back to whoever I was back when I respected myself. It was the same person my ex was attracted to in the first place that he unknowingly destroyed.
The label shared how the album features an eclectic set of songs that draw on a range of ideas and styles: ecstatic gospel, dusty country blues, thoughtful folk, rip-roaring rock and roll, and even avant-garde studio experiments. She melds them together into a powerful statement of survival, revealing a probing songwriter who indulges no comforting platitudes.
‘Anarchist Gospel’ centres around the battle to overcome trauma (Sunny lost her Dad shortly after completing the album, which itself followed a brutal period of depression, a covid diagnosis and the collapse of her relationship) and control her destructive side.
“I feel like there are two sides of me,” says the singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso. “One of them is very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on Anarchist Gospel, which documents a time when it looked like the self-destructive side might win out. Sunny says, “Everybody is a beast just trying their hardest to be good. That’s what it is to be human. You’re not really good or bad. You’re just trying to stay in the middle of those two things all the time, and you’re probably doing a shitty job of it. That’s ok, because we’re all just monsters.”
Pre-Order Anarchist Gospel here – https://www.nwrecs.com/anarchistgospel
Anarchist Gospel Track Listing:
1. Love’s Death Bed
2. No Reason
3. Shelter And Storm
4. I Got No Fight
5. Swear To Gawd
6. Earth
7. New Day
8. Baby Bitch
9. His Love
10. Hopeless
11. Higher
12. Test Dummy
13. Sweet Nothing
14. Whole
Sunny War On Tour:
11/30/2022 – Cherry Street Tavern – Chattanooga, TN
12/1/2022 – Bijou Theatre – Knoxville, TN
2/22/2023 – Joe’s Pub – New York, NY
2/23/2023 – Kennedy Center – Washington, DC
2/24/2023 – Kennett Flash – Kennett Square, PA
2/25/2023 – Narrows Center for the Arts – Fall River, MA
2/26/2023 – Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT
2/27/2023 – Atwood’s Tavern – Cambridge, MA
2/28/2023 – Press Room – Portsmouth, NH
3/1/2023 – One Longfellow Square – Portland, ME
3/2/2023 – Zen Barn – Waterbury Center, VT
3/3/2023 – Funk N Waffles – Syracuse, NY
3/4/2023 – Caffe Lena – Saratoga Springs, NY
3/7/2023 – The Loft @ Manor Mill – Monkton, MD
3/8/2023 – Richmond Music Hall – Richmond, VA
3/9/2023 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC *
3/10/2023 – New Brooklyn Tavern – Columbia, SC *
3/11/2023 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA *
3/12/2023 – The Basement East – Nashville, TN *
3/14/2023 – White Water Tavern – Little Rock, AR *
3/15/2023 – Ponyboy – Oklahoma City, OK *
5/27/2023 – Strawberry Music Festival – Grass Valley, CA
* w/ Sarah Shook & the Disarmers