Sun June – Bad Girl

‘Bad Girl’ is the latest single from Texas five-piece Sun June and it’s absolutely dripping in melancholic beauty.

Lead vocalist Laura Colwell’s sumptuous voice sits beautifully, like a fillet steak, atop a delicious refreshing bed of salad made up of drifting guitars and slow-thudding percussion. The track comes together in a mouth-watering climax to leave you feeling completely satisfied and ready for the bill.

On the back of their first LP, ‘Years’ Sun June coined the phrase “regret pop” to describe their sound and the regret is alive and well again here on ‘Bad Girl’.

Set to be the first release from their second album ‘Somewhere’, Colwell says ‘Bad Girl’ is about “a manic drive to regress into the person I used to be.”

After the death of a friend in high school Colwell was forced to confront thoughts of her own mortality. It’s this fear of death which changed her perception on life and drove the message behind ‘Bad Girl’:

“The song reflects on how that fear combined with my own thrill-seeking affected my decisions since. It cycles through self-destructive choices I’ve made in relationships to avoid responsibility, and how my fear of loss has led me down some dumb paths. The tone is sad and resigned, but also self-righteous somehow.”

Now, it may not be ‘cool’ to bring up people like Taylor Swift when talking about new, up and coming, bands and Sun June may hate me for turning focus to someone who clearly needs little more publicity.

However, when she’s releasing melancholic masterpieces like ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ to critical acclaim, we can only hope the public’s clear desire for more moody tunes comes to the benefit of a hardworking and earnest band like Sun June.

Otherwise, what’s the point in even having acclaim? Because, surely, there’s never been a better year for a bit of “regret pop”, right?

Tom Spruce