Sunndrug 2018
[Photo by Joe Justice]

Sunndrug (ex-Norma Jean, Spitfire) drop technical single "Bleed Your High"—listen

AP is downright stoked to premiere “Bleed Your High,” the new single from Sunndrug, the band centered around former Spitfire bassist Jimmy Reeves and former Spitfire/Norma Jean drummer Chris Raines.

Read more: The Dirty Nil unleash noisy new song, “Pain Of Infinity”—listen

“The song is a commentary on how we pacify ourselves with other people’s highs online instead of finding the courage to change ourselves,” says Reeves about “Bleed Your High.” “The line ‘I’m so fertile, I could bleed your high’ is satirizing a person who’s consumed so much social media, they’re convinced they are vicariously experiencing wealth, vacations, a clean house, friends, whatever the aspiration might be that’s getting dangled in front of you.”

Raines and Reeves recorded the tracks with former Scarlet drummer Andreas Magnusson. The song—paired with the track “Collider”—will be released as a vinyl seven-inch on Mind Over Matter, the label who issued Sunndrug’s 2016 full-length debut, Exit Wounds. The label has created a seven-inch club series where subscribers get a new single every month. Bands participating in the series include Damian Done, Not Waving But Drowning, 27 (featuring members of Cave In, Spore and Dirt Merchants) and Less Art.

For four years beginning in 2007, Raines manned the engine room in Norma Jean, replacing Daniel Davison on the drum throne, playing on the albums The Anti Mother and Meridional, while bringing the sweat equity live. After their on-again/off-again band Spitfire stopped working, Raines and vocalist/guitarist Reeves formed Sunndrug with longtime friend, guitarist Clint Kesler. The band’s full-length Exit Wounds is a textural affair that avoids the trap of sacrificing songs for cool sounds, creating vistas that fit comfortably beside artists as Failure, Young Widows and even Nick Cave. But on both sides of this new single, Sunndrug deliver more density.

Raines describes “Bleed Your High” as a stylistic departure from what Sunndrug were doing on Exit Wounds. “It’s more technical, more upbeat and a little heavier,” he says. “I think most people who see us live think we’re heavier than the record, but we always try to incorporate an electronic vibe to it. It is a bit more technical, which is in our history of playing and writing music. I came up with the beat and some ideas for the guts of the song, and then I come to Jimmy [and say], ‘Here’s something I have, what do you think?’ We sit down and piece it all together on computer and then track live drums and guitars in the studio later.”

You may preorder the seven-inch from Mind Over Matter right here. And if you find yourself down south near the end of the month, Sunndrug are doing two shows with Holy+Gold. We promise you have nothing better to do those nights. Check out the dates, cover art and new track below

Sunndrug Cover

Dates:
08/24 – Atlanta, GA @ the Earl
08/25 – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor