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Sundowner - New Song, New Outlook

Chris from The Lawrence Arms releases his second solo album next month, and it's a peach. To celebrate, we're streaming a new song from it.

Next month, Chris McCaughan aka Chris from The Lawrence Arms aka the wonderful Sundowner releases his second solo album ‘We Chase The Waves’, a beautiful collection of intimate acoustic songs that hits like a slow explosion. And you can stream a track from it below.

You can read more about Sundowner in the issue of Rock Sound onsale August 18, but we were so excited about the album that we wanted to give you a little taster. Think the heartsore musings of Elliott Smith without the underlying sense of utter darkness, or Chuck Ragan’s righteous jams with a little more wistfulness thrown in for good measure. And, of course fans, of The Lawrence Arms will find much to love with Sundowner, especially because TLA drummer Neil Hennessy recorded the album and played bass on it.

We asked Chris some questions, he replied. What a guy.

Parts of your first album ‘Four One Five Two’ felt very evocative of a particular place and time, especially the likes of 'This War Is Noise' - is that continued on ‘We Chase The Waves’?
“Yeah, I think so. We Chase The Waves may even be more based in time and place, although I think it's got a greater diversity. There's more of a thread on this record than the last and think the whole album is more cohesive in general.”

Are there Lawrence Arms covers on the record this time?
“Nope. This is all new front-to-back. I felt like covering Arms songs was something I'd already done and while occasionally I'll do some live it was important to me for this record to be totally fresh and to stand on its own as a collection.”

When did you start writing the songs for this record? Are they all new or had some been in your repertoire for a while?
“Some of the first songs I wrote date back to the spring of 2008, but a few fell off the truck along the way. The bulk of the writing happened in the winter and spring of 2009, though. There's a song or two that I played live several times and few people will recognise. So it took me a long time to write the record but it happened in little bursts and flashes. But that's kind of the way I've always written.”

After the first album did you think you'd make a second?
“I really wasn't sure. I was happy with the first record. It was a cool experience and I got to get out on my own and play live, so I had hopes that I would find myself with the material to make another album but I wasn't positive that it would happen. Once I had a few songs I felt the pull, though, and I knew that I had another one in me.”

For more on Sundowner make sure to check out Rock Sound in August. And click below to stream ‘In The Flicker’ – but be careful, it might just break your little heart.

Sundowner - In The Flicker by RockSoundMagazine

Ben Patashnik