The Sunset Kings

The Sunset Kings’ debut CD The Ballad Of Bella Fury takes prog rock to a higher level. Its inclusion of saxophone and violin allow for colors, tones, and textures not usually found in those playing complex rock song structures, odd time signatures, and wildly impressive instrumental solos. Some of the instrumental passages remind of mid-1970s prog bands Genesis and King Crimson. There is also a hint of Weather Report, Al DiMeola, and Herbie Hancock.

This new work, The Ballad Of Bella Fury, soars with a warm, fuzzy Neumi saxophone phrase reaching ever upward through a palpably slappy bass guitar and punchy drum groove. Neumi sends his sax line spiraling upward, impressive in its intervals, creating a smoky atmosphere in this swiftly sung tune. (Yes, the saxophone player goes by the singe name Neumi)

“Pacific Coast Highway” features the hauntingly beautiful violin work of Hannah Schzde amidst a rushing combo of speedy keys and racing drum work. Emotive, sensitive guitar work by Matt Hughes augments that classical instrument well, both creating lifts in the musical waves and spiritual momentum in their piece.

“You Are The Ocean” employs the smooth, understated vocals of Allister “Star“ Quilon. His flowing croon is a good match for the rushing instrumentation in this piece. His presence, buttressed especially well by a saxophone line, keeps this work in the cruising lane, wide, expansive, but accessible, lulling the listening to take in all that it has to offer. One particularly good artistic flourish is the wiry explosion of saxophone, moving up in dynamics to grab our attention with its prominence and talent.

Hard funking bass guitar from the late Nick “Shag” Shannon (who passed away after this disc was recorded) and assertive sax introduce “The Good.” This one has a soulful vibe within its knobby, muscular sound. Over the thumping low end is emotive sax and driving guitar work, phrasing that gives off sparks each time it contrast well with the two fisted groove.

“Bad Days,” a dreamscape of vocal, nimbly picked guitar, and a forlorn synth wash, reaches the listener in a special way. Its message of sympathy to anyone experiencing daily life, brief as its running time is, is a nice inclusion to this disc.

“Pompeii” continues the mellow space age out reach in its intro then abruptly erupts into hefty doses of fine, fierce instrumentation. Mike Larsen’s drums get spanked repeatedly. Bass guitar runs are thickly appealing. A lead guitar grinds out an edgy phrase. When the lead vocal kicks in, Quilon’s timbre glides over the simmering sounds with a cool detachment and the contrast is brilliant.

“Searching For Solace” offers more brisk, hard rocking prog. This chunk of sound is made up of each band member playing tight ensemble style. Wedged into a thick batch of guitar, bass drums, violin, and sax, this piece moves with power as all its moving parts each carry plenty of weight.

The drums power many of these tunes with multiple smacks, energy erupting from many contacts between stick and skin. That is especially true of “Rose Tinted Raybans.” This one has a swaggering horn, a swaying violin, and whole host of other instrumentation. This is another that shows not only that The Sunset Kings have talent to spare but that they’re also a very interesting band. Their cross between fusion and prog results in many fine passages. A lead guitar on “Rose Tinted Raybans” plays with a fluidity and a power found in few other bands that do not cross the boundary between rock and other genres.

Closing track “Drink Myself” is an eerie farewell from this band. A slowly picked electric guitar creates, in combo, with an airy synth backdrop, a forlorn world for Quilon to pass his voice through. The result is something full of emotive fiber even though the ghostly gentle tune never ramps up into fevered instrumentation. It’s simply epic in its sonic landscape.

The Sunset Kings are off to a promising start with this wildly entertaining and most impressive work. Recorded by Zachary Robert Hughes The Bridge Sound and Stage studio, The Ballad Of Bella Fury should open many doors for this interesting, Boston-based band.

(By Bill Copeland on October 3, 2019) - Bill Copeland Music News

Boston’s genre-defying six piece The Sunset Kings, featuring Alex Quilon (who plays w/ VQnC), have been touring with up-and-coming Haitian pop singer-songwriter Miu Haiti for over a year. According to Quilon, the release of “Come By,” the first official track recorded by the two groups together, doesn’t necessarily mean a collaboration is around the corner, but it also doesn’t not mean that.

“Nothing’s official yet, but Miu and I have been co-writing for the past year so another collaboration is definitely possible,” says Quilon. “With ‘Come By,’ we just wanted to pretty much get our equivalent of a photograph of the chemistry we were building by just being tourmates and going through so many shows and cities together.”

“Come By” features Miu’s powerful vocals and even more powerful presence, coupled with TSK’s eclecticism. Violin and sax mingle with hip-hop and traces of rocksteady as Quilon and Miu spin a rooftop love story that feels most familiar after a night of lonely socializing. Still in all, there is an exuberance to the instrumentation and the vocals that can’t be contained, which makes ‘Come By’ a real(ly enjoyable) headscratcher of a tune.

“We were going through so many transitions in 2019, sound-wise and in terms of our lineup and instrumentation, that it was the perfect timestamp,” says Quilon.

Directed by Quilon in collaboration with Alex Cole, the vid is done up in heart-pounding reds and twilight purples, and watching it makes it hard to decide whether to gaze wistfully out the window or kick up your heels and tear up the floor. But it’s true that the best tracks make you want to do both at once.


NEXT:
The Sunset Kings will be showcased in the 2020 Millennium Music Conference 2/27-2/29 in Harrisburg, PA.

(By Sophie Lou Yarin, Jan 13 2020) - Boston Hassle

We here at Radio Airplay are big music fans and listen to every possible genre. From the down home country lovers, indie dwellers, to head banging metal aficionados, we figured it would be fun to share who our current favorite Radio Airplay bands are - giving these artists even more opportunities to be heard.

Every week we'll post Erin, Kelly, Tara, and Kait's favorite tunes of the week. We'll be featuring them here on the blog, the Radio Airplay Facebook, and our weekly Airplay newsletter. What's more?!

1 lucky staff pick each week will receive a full year's membership to Musician's Atlas, the music industry's most reliable contact database service.

All staff picks are added to Jango Radio's Ear Poppin' New Music station which receives over 3000+ hits per week. All staff picks are also added to Jango's Staff Picks Station

Check out our Staff Picks of Week 37 Below!
View all past staff picks here!

Erin's Picks: The Sunset Kings - "Rose-Tinted Raybans" - RadioAirplay

The Sunset Kings is a six-piece indie-rock band featuring vocals, guitar, bass, drums, violin, and saxophone. Their music represents a unique style of jazz-fusion drawing from elements of R&B, soul, blues, pop, gypsy-jazz, prog-rock, metal, strung together with soulfully expressive vocal work. Frontman Allister Quilon’s use of poetry during performances has led to many audiences finding similarities between The Sunset Kings and The Doors.

The Sunset Kings began after Quilon took a car and guitar from Boston to Texas and back, wandering into bars in Connecticut, Kansas City, Indiana, Denver, Austin, and Virginia to play music. With a notebook full of lyrics and ideas written during this road trip, he began collaborating with Seattle guitarist Matthew Hughes to create a modern sound fueled by storytelling and poetry.

Improvisational sessions lasting late into the night between Quilon, Hughes, and jazz drummer Mike Larsen laid the foundation for the group to become the music soul child that it is now. Common themes in their music range from parallels of love, life and loss with profound metaphor and wordplay as key components. Their mission being their ongoing stride to provide people with quality music that stimulates the mind, embraces the heart and touches the aura of an individual.

“Wine glass bombs exploding on the ground. Throw those photo frame grenades around. I will shield your body from the bursting blues and blacks, ‘cause I promised you I’d love you through the worst attacks” are lyrics taken from their song “Die For You”. The clear yet captivating juxtaposition between the traumas of battle and the depth of heartbreak fuels the song.

Musical Influences include Frank Ocean, Radiohead and The Dear Hunter. The Sunset Kings participated in the Make Music Boston Festival this past summer, where the city turns its streets into stages to make music accessible to the community, in front of Boston Architectural College. They also played at the innovative bar/workspace Aeronaut Brewery for their Duck Village Stage Session series. (https://youtu.be/Y9h8zoAwR4o )

The Sunset Kings are also the house band of Boston’s only omni-genre variety show, CHEAP SEATS, and help to connect a community of artists, poets, musicians, dancers, as well as alternative artists from all across the city in one venue.( https://youtu.be/XA-K0JRJZ54 )

The band just dropped their single “Rose-Tinted Raybans” on Soundcloud, Reverbnation, and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPW27UVX-yk) and will be releasing an accompanying lyric video on April 20. Their debut album THE BALLAD OF BELLA FURY is in the works and will be available for streaming on September 28 later this year.

More information on the band can be found at their links below.

Website http://www.thesunsetkings.com/

Instagram @thesunsetkings

Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/thesunsetkings

Facebook @TheSunsetKings

Photos can be downloaded here:

http://www.thesunsetkings.com/gallery - Scene Chicago

What have you been creating for yourself over the past couple of years?

Over the past couple of years, I have just been soaking up life and immersing myself in my experiences in Boston. I’m the kind of person that will get lost in the city just because. I had this awesome mentor who used to say something like, “If you have nothing to write about, find something to live about.” I started writing “Sketches of Youth” about a year ago, but the concept for it would never have come if I wasn’t fully in the relationship I was in at the time.

How would you describe the feel of your music?

I would describe my music as music that makes you think. The music is relaxing and down tempo, the vocals are smooth, and the melodies are catchy, but the lyrics are the heart of it all and written to have the most substance they can hold without losing my listeners.

Who would you love to perform with if you blew up tomorrow?

If I blew up tomorrow, I would love to perform with Leon Bridges. I have a lot of respect for his artistry and could really see myself growing as an artist myself from being around such an all-in performer.

What impact do I want to have on society?

The impact I want to make is to inspire other people to do what they love, and to see success as the result of being a part of a community that takes care of each other. Life isn’t all about money, but the world can sometimes be; at this point in my life, I feel like being able to do what you’re passionate about is about being around people who are supportive.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

In five years, I see myself giving back to the youth in some way. I’d really like to teach writing workshops, but even if I was just managing an artist that could help youth feel empowered, I would feel pretty successful.

Shout out to Moon Rock Sound, UMass Boston’s Slam Society, and Boston’s SOUP poets.
Allister Quilon
allisterquilonmusic@gmail.com
youtube.com/allisterquilon
reverbnation.com/allisterquilon
facebook.com/allisterquilonmusic - Rare Norm

‘Shadow Work In Technicolor' is the band’s latest album release. The joint effort of vocalist Star and saxophonist Neumi, the band have been dealing with the death of their bassist Shag and the newly found solo projects of each band member. Amidst the turmoil, a new album is born - even if it might be the last.

Track Review: Play It Safe

Track 6 of the 12-song strong album, this is a standout soul-infused gem. Incredible live rhythm section including R&B drums and tight bass make up the foundation of the song. Over that are haunting vocals complete with impressive melismas left right and centre, moody synth and keys and funky electric guitar melodies. This glorious mesh of jazz, Neo-soul, R&B and rock make The Sunset Kings a standout band. Their music looks closer at what it's like to be coming of age in a world that's getting smaller and farther removed from its origins. Yet we hear a message of optimism in this song - despite the world being a dangerous one, it is also full of hope.

The Sunset Kings have battled their own personal demons as a band, yet amidst the chaos, they present this new album to us. Every cloud has a silver lining. - curious for music

The Sunset Kings is a Boston-based group with a uniquely postmodern view of what it means to be an Indie Rock band. Their sound owes as much to the worlds of art, poetry and cinema as it does to Rock & Roll. With beat poet lyricism and musical arrangements that incorporate elements of Jazz, Pop, Psychedelia and Soul, they are redefining what it means to be ‘Alternative.’ It is a sound of simultaneous evolution and entropy, which is fitting for a band experiencing exactly those same natural forces acting on their own existence.

The group debuted in 2018 with the groundbreaking and genre-bending album “The Ballad of Bella Fury.” Immediately they were struck with tragedy upon the unexpected death of their bass player, Shag. That tremendous loss, coupled with the stress of touring effectively ended the 7-piece band. As 2020 dealt a disaster to the world, The Sunset Kings’ lead vocalist (Star) and saxophonist (Neumi) completed their follow-up record while struggling with the impact of the hellish year on their own personal and family lives. The result is the wildly creative and insightful new album, “Shadow Work in Technicolor.”

“Play it Safe” is the latest single from the record, released January 1, 2021. The song packs all of the group’s avant-garde experimental nature into less than two and a half minutes. A simple, jazzy classic Pop chord progression and lo-fi drum groove introduces the song. However, the tape reel soon flips and we find ourselves in an alternate universe version of the same tune.

That melodic guitar groove is still at the heart of the track, but the rhythm is now adorned by syncopated percussive samples and ethereal keys. Meanwhile, Star sings a stream of consciousness meditation on the confusion of love. Images of late night texts, make-up sex and anxiety attacks spin like eddies in the soup. It’s a mesmerizing sound which only grows more surreal as the song progresses. By the end of track we are floating in a psychedelic state of suspension.

Check out “Play it Safe,” below. You can also hear the track on the Deep Indie Dive playlist. Pick up the entire “Shadow Work In Technicolor” record at BandCamp. - Static Dive

Fresh from the brand new project Shadow Work in Technicolor, In The Mood more than lives up to the vibes implied by its title – and introduces The Sunset Kings as having a decidedly unique sound right now.

Blending contemporary production tones with dashes of jazz and pop-rock sensibilities, the single rides high on recognisable vocals and effective song-writing. Weave in a powerful structure, and superb detailing from the production and arrangement, and the whole thing makes fine use of contrast and the entire space within which the music exists.

Interesting throughout, increasingly engaging from both an emotional and musical perspective, and perfectly well-finished for a 3:42 alt-pop hit that subtly but surely leaves its mark.

Personal yet accessible, creatively fusing genres in a fearless yet professional way – including a latter half that veers off into a slightly more chaotic realm, before falling back to piano and sax – In The Mood is refreshing to listen to. Hopefully there’s more music to come. - Stereo Stickman

What have you gotten accomplished during the pandemic? We've all seen many people learn to bake bread. Some people gained the covid 19 pounds and fewer were inspired to focus and take on a new hobby. Yay.

But Boston-based indie rock group The Sunset Kings got to work! Vocalist Star produced and mixed their new mixtape entitled Shadow Work In Technicolor. The work as a whole delves into the band's struggles with the immense amount of tragedy they've endured recently. In addition to all the 'normal' setbacks caused by the pandemic, The Sunset Kings dealt with grieving the accidental death of their bassist. And Star left the city to spend time helping his father recover from a 2-month-long Covid-induced coma.

But the turmoil didn't stop the music.

"In The Mood" is a single off the mixtape that deals with some of the issues not directly related to the virus: relationships. Sort of the unspoken victim of quarantine. I mean, how the hell can you build or maintain a relationship when you're sequestered in your home?

The track's feel channels some serious Post Malone production vibes, with the creative addition of saxophone and piano. It could have easily slipped into a quieter moment during The Weeknd's Super Bowl halftime spectacular.

"It's been creepin' up slowly, the feeling that it's over
We're growing apart
The only thing that's keeping us together is not knowing
If we can move on"

As we collectively emerge from our viral haze, The Sunset Kings have found themselves positioned nicely. Call it a silver lining on a hurricane's cloud, or maybe the one house left in the aftermath of a tornado. But with "In The Mood" and the rest of Shadow Work In Technicolor the group has a strong, contemporary collection of songs that are relevant, important, and set to strong grooves that will mix nicely into your favorite playlist. - Coyote Music

Based out of Boston, Massachusetts, The Sunset Kings are an Indie Rock band who have recently released their latest project. Their new Mixtape, Shadow Work In Technicolor, features 12 songs, including the song “In The Mood.” This track is a sensual and smooth song that has the perfect vibe for a casual night in.

This Mixtape follows the band through their lives in 2020. After the death of a band member, The Sunset Kings, explore the intensity of grief and the journey of solo projects. This collection features the works of the band’s vocalist, Star and sax player Neumi. It is a bold and relatable project that focuses on amazing experiences and personal struggles.

Stream ‘Shadow Work In Technicolor’ now. - Upstream Indie