Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

Spins and Reviews | 05.02.17
By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio

Charlatan Record Cartel spotlight popsters The Sunday Brothers get heavy, man, on “Save Me,” the follow-up to their initial, smash “somber, ruminative ballad about that night in ‘Bankside,’” as we called it in our review back in late February.

Part of Charlatan’s ongoing, purposeful musicological dig through the deep cache of hidden diamond-y bands working undercover in the Pacific Northwest, heretofore unknown to the masses of hungry music fans for whom trips to McDonald’s for a snagging of an all-day breakfast offering are the sustenance of life, this second release from The Sunday Brothers is food for thought, a ruminative (yes, there’s that word again) plea for making things right with just one kiss.

Vocalist Carl Funk, who enjoys a fair share of spins here on Pure Pop Radio, is the voice of “Save Me,” thanks to an impromptu get-together with The Sunday Brothers in Tacoma, Washington, Charlatan’s home base. Carl and the brothers admire each other’s work and wanted to plug into each other’s scene, as it were, to see what kind of magic they could strike.

“Save Me,” not to put too fine a point on the message, paints a rather bleak picture of life (“You lost your way, you have to pay/You have to meet your maker/You mustn’t try to overstay/The undertaker…”). But don’t worry–time-honored, pop tradition has got your back: the musical end of “Save Me” is joyous, jubilant, a jumbo ball of celebratory tuneage (I believe I detected a few sly nods to Fontella Bass’s 1966 hit, “Rescue Me,” an apropos touch). A cry for help with a smile on its face? Yes, indeed.

Carl Funk squeezes every ounce of emotion out of this typically strenuous Sunday Brothers song, which posits that a kiss will always be a kiss and pops along with a great, catchy melody. “If you do what they tell you,” the last verse intones, “They promise it’ll be alright/If you buy what they sell you then one kiss will set it right…/Well set it right, right now.” Wise words from Tacoma’s sage musical poets.

“Save Me” is exploding within the Bandcamp universe. Pure Pop Radio is proud to have exclusively presented this important song for the very first time on the radio on April 20. Don’t miss this one.

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Where to Get It: Bandcamp