Out Friday, June 13th, “Something Strange” is the latest offering from Scottish shoegaze band Sunstinger, following up their 2024 EP Worthless. The new track builds on the band’s reverb-heavy aesthetic with a sharper focus on internal breakdown and identity erosion. It’s a dense, slow-burning release that leans into emotional fragmentation without ornamentation or polish.
The production leans hard into texture: walls of reverb-drenched guitars dominate the mix while a taut rhythm section holds down the structure.
At the center, Wright’s vocals waver between detachment and vulnerability. The lyric, “I can’t explain the shift and change, lost within the something strange,” sets the tone early — a blurry, dissociative mantra that anchors the song’s descent into psychological noise. The repetition gives the impression of being caught mid-thought, mid-collapse, without resolution.
The dynamic structure mirrors the internal chaos. Periods of aggressive distortion crash into moments of space and minimalism. The track doesn’t offer catharsis, only confrontation — a push-and-pull between silence and saturation that resists easy resolution. Rather than narrative clarity, “Something Strange” dwells in inertia, in the moments when change has already happened and there’s no going back.
Lyrically, the themes are tight: detachment, disintegration, the slipperiness of self when reality shifts underfoot. The song doesn’t name the problem; it lets the listener sit inside it. As the press notes put it, this is “a confrontation with the self, the shadow, and the silence that follows.” That’s not a metaphor—it’s the actual sound.
Sunstinger’s latest arrives on the heels of Worthless, their digital and vinyl EP (UK only), and their earlier debut EP, which remains available in both US and UK formats. This new single continues their pattern of balancing heaviness with restraint, without stepping into nostalgia or theatrics. The influence of Nothing, Slowdive, and early Smashing Pumpkins is audible, but never overbearing.
Live performances are lined up for August: Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival in Scotland on August 3rd, and Gazefest in Belfast on August 30th. More dates are expected to be announced.
The band’s previous work has received airplay and support from outlets like BBC Radio Scotland (Vic Galloway, BBC Introducing & ALBA), XS Manchester, Shoreditch Radio, and Tenement TV. They’ve also gained nods from Gigslutz and actor Robert Carlyle’s new artists feature.
