Sunday (1994) Return with New Single “Rain”

Sunday (1994) has returned with “Rain”, a new single that follows their 2024 self-titled debut album on Arista Records.

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In a press release statement, the band says of the new song that it’s “a devotion so deep it borders on doom, where love clings to the wreckage of crime and consequence. If fate demands suffering, then let it be shared; whether in a lover’s arms or behind prison bars.”

“Rain” echoes like a glossy version of The Cure’s gloomy masterpiece Disintegration. Yet, instead of Robert Smith’s dense abyss of sadness and longing, singer Paige Turner opts for the melodic sunshine of Sabrina Carpenter.  

“Babydoll,
That’s what you call me on the telephone,
You know that I like it,
You’re a man, of very few words but got a jawline,
That can cut through the silence.”

Turner and bandmate Lee Newell spent years writing together before forming a project of their own with drummer Puma. Newell says of Turner, “I had stumbled around aimlessly for many years, but I wasn’t born until we’d met.”

In Parentheses

The band punctuates the year in its name in parentheses, and their bio states they stylize it this way to look like a film title. Both the year and the fragmented parenthetical hint at two destinations. First, the mid-1990s and perhaps Mazzy Star’s dream pop as a kind of blueprint for Sunday (1994)’s music. But also, Newell’s history in a Britpop revivalist group called Viva Brother.

Oasis liked setting things off in parentheses too: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and “(It’s Good) To Be Free”.

Viva Brother not only recycled 1990s Cool Britannia, but they also attempted the Gallagher brothers’ swagger. According to a Pitchfork review of the band’s 2011 Geffen Records debut, Famous First Words, Viva Brother opened their second gig with the following pronouncement: “If anyone here doesn’t want to see the future of music, leave now.”

Unlike the culture-shifting arrival of Oasis, the future would have to wait. Newell’s new band doesn’t promote with the bluster of his former one. Instead, Sunday (1994) attempts a slow-burn approach while exploring the ethereal pop of the same decade. They also aim for the mystery of a time before social media. The Spotify bio reads only: Do I dare disturb the universe? The terseness, like their artwork, provides only fragments of a picture.

Check out Sunday (1994) on The Debut Tour beginning April 24 at Rickshaw Shop in San Francisco, with additional dates across the United States and United Kingdom.

Photo by Jussy