Earlier this summer, as they began releasing music for their second album, SunDub kicked things off by featuring three diverse singles showing multiple facets of their musical approach on Spirits eat music. Beginning with “Jump And Dance,” featuring Lutan Fyah, the Brooklyn-based five-piece band delivered an irresistible feel-good tune perfect for the hot summer months. Changing, next came the title track “Spirits Eat Music”, a catchy song with a heavier theme that speaks to a personal message of love and loss for the band. Latest single “New Ways To Love,” featuring GRAMMY-winning singer Peetah Morgan (of Morgan Heritage), inspires an optimistic outlook on life through its uplifting lyrics. The official video for the song (https://youtu.be/NTh2UPrsLZ0) has just been released, further showing the playful and positive nature of the track. The video was filmed on location in Florida and was directed, shot and edited by David Svedosh.
All three singles received positive press, accolades and radio support from tastemakers including the BBC’s Sir David Rodigan which added to the anticipation for the album. . Now the wait is over with Spirits Eat Music finally dropping on all digital platforms via Easy Star Records. Simultaneously, vinyl and CD editions of the record can be pre-ordered, along with an exclusive new t-shirt design. All pre-ordered copies will be autographed by the band. Physical versions of the album will be released on January 13.
Spirits Eat Music was recorded at Lydgate Sound in Kauai, HI in May 2021. Joanna Teters explains, “We received an invitation to record at Lydgate Sound, a special studio located on a remote cocoa farm. The island and the farm envelop its visitors in lush nature and gentle sunshine, providing beautiful inspiration that can only come from being disconnected from our daily lives and distractions. Ben Teters adds enthusiastically: “We brought in Sidney Mills (Steel Pulse) to design and co-produce the album. We worked with Sidney on our debut album Burden of Love – the opportunity to dig deep for two weeks in the studio with him took the project to new heights.
SunDub is a testament to the power of inclusion, diversity and unity; their music and community revolves around the concept that we are stronger when people from different backgrounds can work together to create positive change. These core values were first showcased on SunDub’s debut album, Burden of Love (2019), which has amassed millions of streams since its release. Anchored by a core quintet – Ben and Joanna, as well as Finn Singer (guitar), Josh T Carter (bass), Eric “The General” Toussaint (vocals-keys) – the group is ready to break through with even more fans around the world with their second album, showcasing the evolution of their sound over the past few years. The imposing and smoky lead voice of Joanna Teters blends perfectly with the airtight arrangements of the SunDub rhythm section. The result is a remarkable expression of reggae classic rippling pulse and lush subterranean grooves, reimagined for listeners of all times and genres.
Outside the studio and off the stage, the band members who make up SunDub put their talents to work in myriad ways: using their music as a platform to advocate for political movements, teaching music lessons to young people in New York and working with nonprofits to create change, to name a few. Like so many other bands, SunDub have been hit hard by the onset of the 2020 pandemic – canceled tours, postponed opportunities, lost revenue. Instead of getting discouraged, the group got together on a Brooklyn patio and figured out how to make the best of the situation. During weekly COVID-safe livestream performances in the summer of 2020, SunDub raised over $1,000 for the NAACP Education and Legal Defense Fund, using their platform to rally their community around the importance of political activism and the dismantling of unjust racial and societal structures.
SunDub’s spiritual and selfless themes run throughout the album, combining with different moods on the record – from romantic to political to hedonistic – to provide a catchy and complex statement of this young band’s moment, which reward with repeated plays of the entire sequence.
Tour dates:
11/17 @ Deep Dive – Ithaca, NY (with Baked Shrimp)
11/18 @ 99 Franklin – Brooklyn, NY (Official Record Release Party)
11/20 @ Higher Ground – Burlington, Vermont
11/26 @ Colony – Woodstock, NY
