The debut EP by brand new Portland power trio Sunnyside has successfully ransacked the laundry piles in my late-’90s emo dorm room. They flitter in the kind of emotive rock ‘n’ roll that gave heightened awareness to a genre that would later be defiled by that dirty three-letter word, but where Sunnyside excels is in ensuring that their rapid-fire regimen trumps the valleys of that bumpy terrain.
They’re so new they don’t even really have band photos. So new no one I’ve talked to yet has even heard of them in passing. So new it’s not even apparent whether or not they’ll stay together long enough for anyone to hear them. But they should. Awash in pretty keys, three-chord choruses, peppy drums and powerfully affecting lyrics, the band would probably have been right at home in the booming indie rock eruption of the late half of the last century. As it stands, we’re lucky to have them now, however long that will last.
Download the band’s debut EP here and see for yourself. "Maybe I Will" is making me want to move out of my house to live inside my head again.
– Ryan J. Prado