Made up of Brian Jordan and Colan Miles, Sun Shines Cold hail from the Scottish Borders south of Edinburgh. Their sound fuses elements of post-rock, shoegaze, post-punk, psyche and 80’s goth.
The duo recently released a new single titled “A Feeling Unknown” and have an album and a collection of singles that you can check out here.
I caught up with Brian and Colan to talk about their early musical experiences, how they started playing music and the making of the new single.
CMM- What was the first music that really made an impact on the two of you as kids and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Colan – For me it was new wave and early post punk. The Cure, Tears for Fears, Soft Cell, The Cramps, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Depeche Mode. I enjoyed the Cure and 90’s Depeche Mode the most
Brian – I was into The Jam as a kid, my first real live gig. Then got really into the Cramps, theatre of hate and Spear of destiny. I would say the Cramps really got me interested in music.
CMM – When did you all first start playing music and writing your own songs?
Both – Colan played cello at school before picking up the bass. Brian started playing guitar at the age of 16. The first music we played together was in our teens when we formed a rockabilly/ psychobilly band influenced by our love of the Cramps and similar UK bands. Our musical tastes later turned to shoegaze and post punk and soon after we formed a more indie /shoegaze band called Breeze. Breeze was a four piece outfit in which we wrote and performed mostly our own material and 2 cover versions Ride – Taste and St Etienne – Nothing can stop us. After that band broke up we continued sporardically writing as a 2 piece then about 5 years ago decided to take it more seriously and released some of our material.
CMM – You recently released a new single called “A Feeling Unknown”. What was the writing and recording process like? Any particular gear and instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you? How did the remix come about?
Both– Feeling Unknown started from a practice/ jam session. From recollection we started with bass line we both liked then introduced the guitar. We laid the basics then went to the studio to record it properly with Brian introducing further layers of guitar, vocals and drums. The outro lead is Colan on the Fender VI bass. Effects used on the bass and VI are boss chorus, delay and reverb. Brian had bought a fender jazzmaster guitar prior to writing the track which gave inspiration along with the usual delay, reverb, chorus and a blend of distortion.
Lyrics were written together, as is the case with most of our material and the remix came about via our label 1991 Recordings as Last Tourist also on 1991 Recordings know James Chapman from Maps and have also done some work with him. They introduced us to him and we sent him the original version. After a couple of weeks he came back with the remix which we were more than happy with. James is a great guy to work with.
CMM – If you could do a score for any film director who would it be and what would the film be about?
Colan – For me it would be Sofia Coppola. Her soundtracks are always good and her use of post-punk and shoegaze in Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette really added to the atmosphere of those films. Also the emotive sounds of Air in The Virgin Suicides fit perfectly.
The movie would probably be loosely based on personal experiences and set somewhere beautiful like the Scottish Highlands, or Banff in Canada allowing us to create soundscapes to go with the imagery and the emotive subject matter.
Brian – It would be Christopher Nolan. I like the thought provoking, dark and psychological elements he brings to the audience and of course the collaboration with Hans Zimmer on some of his movies. The film would be a combination of intrigue, psychological thriller, emotive with parts that create suspense and curiosity. The score would be a mix of music genres such as ambient, post-rock, cinematic and shoegaze.
CMM – What do you have coming up next? Any new recordings or shows?
Both – We are In the process of finishing our album off that we hope to release later this year.
A feeling unknown will be on the album and we will release 2 or 3 more tracks closer to the album release.
We are looking at playing live however we need to find more time to rehearse and look at the logistics of either using backing tracks or bringing in other musicians. Working as a 2 piece has its benefits to writing however it does make playing live a little bit harder.
