Review of The Sundowners' 'Hummingbird' single for Artrocker magazine

Let’s play a game of true or false: The Sundowners are a current, up-and-coming, Liverpudlian band? Surprisingly, true. ‘Surprising’ in the sense that debut single, Hummingbird – produced by James and Ian Skelly of The Coral fame and released on the band’s own record label, Thin Skin Records – could not be less ‘current’ and ‘Liverpudlian’. To start, the sound is of a real vintage feel (perhaps exaggeratedly so); the guitars are bordering on being more jangly than The Smiths (!), whilst the vocals seemingly adopt the belief that strength comes in numbers, much like, say, The Beach Boys did and still do. Comparisons to bands that aren’t quite so ‘current’, then. Secondly, Hummingbird is 2 minutes 36 seconds of Americana-laced sunshine. Were Americana and sunshine to be our whole nation’s currency, let alone just the city of Liverpool’s, our financial situation would be... Well, our financial situation would be much like it is now but you get the point. What cannot be disputed, though, is the popularity of old school-styled artists and bands, like The Sundowners, at the moment – you could even say they were ‘up-and-coming’. Handy.

4/5