Sundaybuthoursaway, a local San Antonio band, recently released a new album. Spanning 35 minutes over eight songs, “Daysgoneby” marks the band’s longest album to date. With around 149 monthly listeners, Sundaybuthoursaway is about as local as it gets, and their take on “Midwest-screamo” definitely piques interest.
While “Toknowwhenyoureolder” is the first track of the album, it is arguably also one of its best. Sundaybuthoursaway took a transitional approach to many of the songs on this album, and in “Toknowwhenyoureolder” one can really feel the weight of the transitions. The gradual, soft flow of the intro trades in and out with heavy instrumental excerpts, allowing Sundaybuthoursaway to emphasize the meaning within their vocal moments, finishing off the song with a slow and deliberate transition to the next title, “Nice Try.”
“Nice Try” starts out with an emphasis on drums and follows suit throughout the rest of the track. This track sets rhythmic pauses in between moments of heavy drumming and short spurts of slower, bass-heavy stints before ending the song with a snare transition to the next song, “Campingisthebestwhenyourenotgone.”
Leading in with a riff on the bass and following with a growing drumline, “Campingisthebestwhenyourenotgone” leans towards a heavier vocal emphasis. It is not the strongest song off the album, as it seems to be overshadowed by the instrumentals. The end of “Campingisthebestwhenyourenotgone” is marked by a gradual fade into the following track, “Afterworld.”
Now, “Afterworld” is the most popular track off this album, and the reasons why are very apparent. The production during the intro facilitates a different listening experience than previous songs. Starting softer and continuing the rhythm throughout the duration of the track allows listeners to fall into a sort of lull as they gradually adjust to the tone of the song. The layered vocals throughout the track scream inspiration from what is typically described as shoegaze, as the layering allows the rhythmic instrumentals to capture the listener’s attention. After all this attention-grabbing, “Afterworld” ends on a jarring cut to the next track, “Days Gone By.”
Characterized mostly by its ending, “Days Gone By” draws no major distinctions from the previous songs on this album. The outro of “Days Gone By” is its most redeeming quality, marked by a quick transition from heavy instrumentals to soft, stretched-out bass chords, which transition again into the next song, “Scarfaroundyoureyes.”
“Scarfaroundyoureyes” starts off rough, with very clear instrumental lag. The soft background stops to make way for a heavier solo instrumental track, which, as previously mentioned, is a trend with this album. “Scarfaroundyoureyes” served mostly as a transition into the next song, “Father’s Hands.”
“Father’s Hands” starts off strong. Marked by a heavy and distinct chord progression within the intro, the gradual transition into heavy screamo is the best use of transition within this album so far. However, “Father’s Hands” as a whole follows suit with the typical patterns of this album, transitioning between instrumentals for the entirety of the almost nine-minute listening time. In combination with frequent mic cuts during vocals and repetitive lyrics, “Father’s Hands” proved to be an unintelligible nine-minute mess.
“Shirts and Skins” begins heavily, marking an enjoyable change from the previous songs on this album. The instrumental track holds solid rhythmic progression, highlighted specifically in the chord work of this song. This song definitely highlights the guitar more than any other song on this album, leading to an extremely enjoyable instrumental track. Power chords abound in “Shirts and Skins,” and they only add in positive ways.
“Daysgoneby” shows promise at the beginning of the track, but the repetitive nature of the lyrics overshadows what the instrumentals could have been. While the tone set by this album is chaotic at times, the instrumentals as a whole pull the songs together, allowing for a more comprehensive listen. Alongside that issue, the repetitive nature of these tracks made it difficult for some songs to stand out, leaving certain tracks sounding remarkably plain. However, even taking the album’s flaws into consideration, “Daysgoneby” was overall a dynamic listen, showing promise alongside some room for improvement.
