Exclaim! Class of 2024 grad Sunnsetter — a.k.a. the project of multi-instrumentalist, composer and mixing engineer Andrew McLeod — has detailed the release of a new album, previewed today by the single "Fear it comes in waves."
Heaven Hang over Me is due November 15 through Paper Bag Records, following McLeod's 2023 debut for the label The best that i can be. Named after a misheard lyric from Nirvana's 1993 In Utero track "Dumb" and the artist's belief in a universal energy surrounding us rather than an extension of religious faith ("I talk about it as this feeling, knowing it's there, not knowing what it is. I don't see the world as a literal place," they offered), the collection includes recent singles "I ACTUALLY DON'T WANNA DIE" and "Try Again."
"There is a catharsis that comes from playing heavy music that I find myself pining after, since starting to play live as a band," McLeod said of Heaven Hang over Me's emphasis on dynamics after Sunnsetter's natural evolution into a full-band entity, with Cole Sefton on guitar, Hannah Edgerton on bass/vocals, Trevor Cooke on drums and Kyle Gottschalk on keyboards. "The feeling of letting go and yelling and carrying on in front of people in a room is something that really drives me. Enveloping myself and everyone else in that room with sound, and letting it take over in a way that feels overwhelming and all consuming."
Opening track "Fear it comes in waves" captures "the daily dread or anxiety that just finds its way into your everyday life, in waves, even when you find ways to cope with it," according to the singer-songwriter. Give it a listen below, where you'll also find the full album tracklist.
Heaven Hang over Me:
1. Fear it comes in waves
2. I ACTUALLY DON'T WANNA DIE
3. Try Again
4. Bittersweet
5. I want to live (the body is a place of rest)
6. Never forget
7. Nothing to fear *
8. Take a shot
9. I feel everything
10. The moon, and in the water
* Digital bonus track