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There are so many moments within a lifetime when the art created by a fellow human being or a group of human beings transcends and lifts you seemingly out of the deepest slumber and brings into focus the real beauty of reality and the human experience. You’re awakened to the possibility of real human art that we are all capable of…we just need an artist or a piece of art through our shared medium and artistic passion-for myself and those around the indie music community, obviously this is the expression of the human experience that music is-to help bring a light to shine bright even in the darkest moments. To awaken you to the profound and mystical power that music and art in general has in abundance- to move and reflect the nuances of human existence, expression and consciousness to us all, to bring our unique life perspectives into sharp and meaningful focus.
On first listen to The Sun Watts music you can hear elements reaching through time back to the cultural explosion that was the nineteen sixties through to the indie and alternative scenes throughout the nineties and early 2000s right up till today all combining with a sense of innocence, wonder and an inner wisdom-this is music that definitely and defiantly transcends us to another place; exactly the beauty and profundity what I believe drew us all to the magnetic and magical power that music can be and unites us all in this shared passion to this creative world of sonic artistry. We can all be and are equally capable of this kind of art-we only need the inspiration that the surrounding artists such as The Sun Watts and our own unique imagination can bring. It’s also quite a wonderful surprise to find that this music was created by a father and his two daughters which bridges that gap and indeed brings us familiarity and a touch of nostalgia within the music and breaks through barriers which takes us and our music into new places. This is an astounding achievement.
“Strawberry Square”- the title track of The Sun Watts June 2025 album is to this mind a throwback to the cheeky establishment baiting that The Kinks brought mixed with a hint of White Album era Beatles and a little Velvet Underground and combines these elements perfectly with the freshness of a completely new musical direction.
There’s a lot to take in and at 4 minutes you definitely are kept interested throughout-what is heard throughout these four minutes is a very catchy and impressive piece of music of which the recurring lyric “I think I’ve been here once before, oh long ago…” is the perfect summation of The Sun Watts stylistic musical fingerprint. From the muted electric guitar figure which introduces “Strawberry Square” into that very The Who and White Album era Beatles like acoustic guitar figure through to The Kinks electric guitar bursts…there is definitely a nostalgic feeling within this music, yet it is also very, unique and can only be really defined as “The Sun Watts”. The echo effect on the combined father daughter vocals on the words “let it go” and throughout leading out of each verse and chorus is so cool…yet there is utterly nothing remotely “Square” about this song EXCEPT for the title and refrain here and there…certainly there’s an echo of Ray Davies songwriting style here, but this is one brilliant and marvellous sonic adventure. The breakdown from choppy guitar chords to the muted guitar figure into the brilliant open chords and repeated vocals that swirl and swirl towards the close of this piece is epic and brilliant. Reminiscent and familiar yet fascinating and new. This is music that on first hearing announces that here is a band for all in the indie community to be inspired by and proud to be a part of. It’s very fitting that the music created by The Sun Watts sounds like a celebration when that’s exactly what is being done every day with the song of the day feature. The Sun Watts are an indie band to be celebrated and acknowledged for what they bring to our community. There’s so much to celebrate here and to be grateful for the music created by artists all throughout our indie music scene.
