Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

The Suncharms originally formed in 1989. Marcus Palmer and Richard Farnell were old school friends and huge music fans who decided to start a band. After playing some gigs in Sheffield around 1989-90, they recorded a few demo tapes and sent them to Wilde Club Records, who offered them a record deal. They released two EPs, recorded a session for John Peel, and then went their separate ways in the early 1990s. In 2015-16, after noticing online that they were being name-checked by shoegaze and indie fans in America, Japan, and Hawaii, The Suncharms were approached by Cloudberry Records, which was eager to release a retrospective album featuring their EPs and other unreleased material from the archives. That’s when all the original members of the band decided to give it another try: they booked a rehearsal room and started writing new material. In 2017, The Suncharms recorded two new songs, Red Dust and Film Soundtrack, which were released by Slumberland Records in 2018. Since then, the band has released two albums, Distant Lights and Things Lost (in 2021 and 2023) both for Sunday Records. Now they’re back with their most accomplished album to date, Darkening Sky: a true masterpiece, often closer to the jangling guitar sound of some Sarah Records acts then to the shoegaze sound of their early years. It’s full of wonderful melodies, lyrical introspection, shimmering guitars, a subtle rhythm section (with the occasional magnificent trumpet) and a cohesive and personal sonic identity.

Inside Darkening Sky, track-by-track (by Marcus Palmer)

Midnight Train

The story of lost romance in a seaside town. Mixed with regrets like Billy Liar not getting on the last train. Revisiting the seaside town years later and the Victorian splendour now decayed. As you wander the streets and see the lonely shadow figures and reflect on whether you could have been one of them. Vintage 60s organ on this one.

Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee Is the characters name in a Edgar Allan Poe poem that had captured my imagination and it got tangled up with my thoughts of a failed relationship that had only happened because nostalgia had wiped away why it failed in the first place. The sound of the guitars made me think of a choppy relentless sea. And her demise to the sea.

Stone Tape Rewind

When the world seems overwhelming and you are riddled with darkness and anxiety. When wise words are sought out from a friend, a guru, or a dusty book. A quote to repeat and exercise the demons. In this song for one night a girl in a Prague nightclub became that soothing person. Distorted guitars, a country tinge and a keyboard straight out of a French 60s movie is what I can hear.

Monster To Me

When the sparkle of love has gone and the person becomes a dark stranger as you reflect on what you once had. But of course they may be seeing you as the monster too. Trumpets fuse with to distorted guitars on this one. Perhaps the mood of the old and new worlds colliding.

Air Raid Shelter

A summer afternoon walking through a park with someone you had met only the week before. Taking shelter from the rain in a 2nd world war air raid shelter taken over by blossom. As it becomes dusk she decides to tell you there’s someone still sharing her home. Stranded bewildered hundreds of miles from home. Trumpet strings and gazey guitars set the scene.

Diamonds

A mysterious song that came out of nowhere and I have to keep checking it’s us. As it is not of this world, I’ll leave it’s meaning to be interpreted by those who listen. Instruments include a Mellotron on this one.

1000 Years

If you were listening on vinyl this track would open side 2. It’s full of crashing guitars. Pondering wondering and all those sliding door moments.

Motorway Bridge

A bridge represents the two directions a relationship can take. Near midnight we recorded the sounds of the motorway traffic. If you listen in the dark it takes you on on a journey like a mini film.

Interstellar

Capturing beauty in the mundane. From Voyager 1 capturing the earth as a blue dot to glistening raindrops on a window pane. Tardigrades and Tower blocks. As for instruments guitars of course but in the mix are strings, keyboards, trumpets and some 70s space sounds too.

Ferris Wheel

The track starts with the distant sounds of a fairground. A sound from a distance that always has an eerie melancholy sound. A song for the outsider reflecting on life.

Winter Sun

Ice cubes in a whiskey glass. Clinking in the glass starts the track. Harder to record than the guitars. We used to look at images from the past through looking at sun bleached photos or crumpled snaps in the back of a drawer. In the 21st Century you can see those ghosts from your past pop up on a laptop. Memories come to life step into the present. What happens if you meet….I love how this track ends with guitars, reminding me of the sounds of Forever Changes by Love.

A Snow Storm

A late night a meeting of souls in a shared house. The fear in the morning, as the outside traffic starts the day. Guitars and a Mellotron returns on this one. We wanted a bit of a strawberry fields sound mixing with our guitars.

Darkening Sky is out now via Sunday Records. Look HERE for more information on The Suncharms.