New Tune Review: Glorious Mourning by Sad Beach Boys

Glorious Mourning is just that — it’s what you would expect from someone calling themselves “Sad Beach Boys,” but it’s also totally not. It’s got this sort of somber, summer vibe to it. You know, like the end of Dazed and Confused when “Tuesday’s Gone” scores the most epic bi-centennial hangover in American history?

As “Sad Beach Boys,” recording artist Luke MacDonald – also known as Grizzly Waves – exudes transformation. Earlier recordings and performances under the Grizzly Waves moniker were denoted by the alt surf-rock, folk inspired sound that is increasingly present the further west you go.

Glorious Mourning sees MacDonald stripping his art back to the essence. He begins by laying down some bright, jangly guitar melodies on top of the static pulse of a drum machine. The space between the two is filled up neatly with eerie synth leads and spacey vocals – one part reverb, twp parts nostalgia – and all of that is anchored down with some wobbly bass.

Glorious Mourning was released on June 21 and is available on streaming services and on cassette via 3 Nines Compact Cassettes.

“100 per cent of all download sales will be donated to Stedman Community Hospice,” MacDonald wrote in a post sharing the album. “They showed my mom and family so much kindness and peace during her final days and I wanted to give something small back to them.”

– Kurtis Rideout, local musician, songwriter, producer

Kurtis Rideout has released music with 3 Nines Compact Cassettes as STEVEDAVE.

[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=3119986210 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false]

mm

Kurtis Rideout, local musician, producer and ad manager for WLUSP