Friday, March 24, 2023

Sunshine Riot - "Room to Moan"

Photo courtesy Sunshine Riot

For their latest single, Boston's Sunshine Riot are still maintaining their neo-grunge sound, but it's softened a wee bit. Frontman Jonny Orton is going full Cobain on the vocals of "Room to Moan," but musically the song comes across a little more reserved and almost pop based. To me, this song sounds like if Nirvana showed up for Unplugged with electric instruments but decided to play them quietly... except for Dave Grohl who is still gonna go all out. It's a harsh and reflective power ballad that still contains more than a little beauty. It's also the neo-grunge song that feels most like a grunge song.

Part of the intense grunge vibes in "Room to Moan" are due to the subject matter. Jonny Orton explains:

“There's a line in Soundgarden's ‘The Day I Tried to Live’, it goes ‘The lives we make / Never seem to get us anywhere but dead’. It always struck me. There is something gripping about that lyric – I think we all do tend to make a life, at least in part, because we don't want to think about the one certainty that makes us alive. Death is an awfully scary thing – I'm not sure what comes next. I hope it's not nothing, forever.”

You can listen to "Room to Moan" below. The Steve Albini recorded Loud, Bright and Violent is due out April 21. For more on Sunshine Riot, check out the band's website.

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