The Sunflower Thieves make music that feels like it’s been in your head forever, music that takes you to another place and connects with your heart and emotions. There’s just something about their voices, the words and the way their music is put together that does that.
For those of you who don’t know Sunflower Thieves, or a quick reminder for those who do, their music sits somewhere in the intersection between folk, the broad singer/songwriter sound and classic pop. I’m going to describe the sound of ‘So Far So Good’ as modern folk; in that it takes the elements of folk and drags them wonderfully into now.
‘So Far So Good’ is a haunting song that touches on disconnection, loneliness and feeling alive; if this sounds like it has something to do with lockdown, it does but let’s take that as a starting point not the whole story. For example lockdowns didn’t start our reliance on the internet as a ‘means of social connection’; it really only accelerated the speed with which that happened.
They explain the song’s origins ‘During the first lockdown, a church near Amy’s house put up a sign outside encouraging people to send their prayers in via email, and it got us thinking about the very human need for connection and control, and how this manifests in different ways for different people. So Far So Good sits in an uneasy space between this and the overwhelming feeling of our individual insignificance in the wider world. Like, does it matter what we want or how we go about spending our time?’
The sound of the track, as I said, is modern folk but let’s get beyond the label. It’s ethereal, haunting, dark and eerie. It comes with an edge of anxiety and fear that to a large extent comes from a slight wobbly feel to the sound and subsonic sounds.
So used as I am to the sheer beauty of the duo’s voices I have to admit to almost crashing forward to my final words but then I realised that some of you may not have heard them before. I could, and have done, gush almost endlessly about the sound of their vocals but here I will simply say that they are compelling, mesmirising and wonderful.
‘So Far So Good’ sounds fantastic and has words that both connect with your raw emotions and make you think about where we are now. It does all that you want a song to do, and so much more. ‘So Far So Good’ is simply beautiful.
The info
Rooted in sisterhood, childhood friends Amy Illingworth and Lily Sturt-Bolshaw found their feet in the musical hotpot of Leeds to form Sunflower Thieves.
So Far So Good is the third single from the band’s upcoming EP, ‘Same Blood’, due for release on 30th October 2024. It was written with Sam Griffiths [The Howl & The Hum], and co-produced with Jack Hardman.
