somesurprises Interview – KALX 90.7FM Berkeley

On Wednesday, July 17th @ 8pm, Seattle based band, somesurprises, drops by the KALX studios to speak with Carnacki before their show at The Golden Bull in Oakland on Saturday, July 20th.

somesurprises is the brainchild of Seattle-based songwriter and guitarist Natasha El-Sergany. Once a bedroom project focused on spectral balladry and late-night exploration, somesurprises is now a dynamic four-piece live band. Motorik beats, reverb-drenched vocals, washes of fingerpicked guitars, and hazy synths expand El-Sergany’s delicate and blissful songwriting.

The return of somesurprises takes the form of Perseids, a full length LP, and their first new music in 5 years. More than just a memorable record, it is unquestionably the band’s finest moment. Perseids is not a reinvention of the group’s sound, it is the perfecting of it.

Keen ears might hear traces of Ash Ra Tempel, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Grouper, Mazzy Star, or even Amon Düül II in the music, but as quickly as the familiar vibes appear, they vanish, dissolving into the singular sound that the band has crafted for themselves. While there are surely elements of shoegaze, psych, and dream pop here, somesurprises are less concerned with genre. With songs this pure, the identification of specific styles becomes irrelevant. Indeed, they are ultimately just drops in the ocean of somesurprises’ sound.

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