Welcome back to AUK for 2025 and happy new year to all our readers. The latest single from singer-songwriter Sunny War features the excellent Tré Burt. “Scornful Heart” has a laid-back groove and the friends’ vocals combine brilliantly, following an easy melody. Sunny War says of the collaboration and the song: “I met Tré sometime before COVID in Nashville during Americana Fest. His set was before mine and we traded records. That was the beginning of a great friendship and we have now been working on songs together for a couple of years. We’re hoping to eventually put out an album under the name ‘Smooth Harrison’ (it’s like if George Harrison was funky). ‘Scornful Heart’ is the first song Tré and I finished together.” The pair directed and edited the video together, in which we follow Sunny and Tré hanging out.
Sunny War’s upcoming new album, “Armageddon in a Summer Dress”, is expected on 21st February 2025. As well as Burt, the album features guest appearances from the likes of Valerie June, Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs, Kyshona Armstrong and John James Tourville of the Deslondes. Expectations are high after the release of the highly-regarded album “Anarchist Gospel” in 2023. After that breakthrough record, Sunny War moved into her father’s house in Chattanooga, which she was convinced was haunted. She explains: “I spent the winter seeing things and hearing things. The house is 100 years old, and I was in there by myself. I could hear people walking around and talking, but when I jumped out of bed with my machete, there was nobody there. I assumed it was my dad, and I started writing about the ghosts that I was living with.” Of course, the house wasn’t actually haunted. She describes what was going on: “Something broke and I had to fix it, so I called the gas company even though I didn’t have the money. The guy discovered major gas leaks all over the house. I thought I was losing my mind, but I was just hallucinating from the gas. After I got that fixed, I never saw or heard another ghost.” Those hallucinations, crossing boundaries and the ghosts of people and the past informed the songs from the new album. Inventive and fresh, it promises to be one of the highlights of 2025.
