SONNY AND THE SUNSETS - Longtime Companion LP

Highly recommended.

The new Jonathan Richman?

Welp, Sonny Smith's most impressive album with the Sunsets, is also his least silly and poppy. But at the same time, this "break-up" album of sorts, is still full of the terrific hooks and musical talent that has been there since The Hypnotist. The production on here is terrific, and songs like "Pretend You Love Me"(a reworking of Hit After Hit's closer) and "Longtime Companion" feature some seriously beautiful instrumentation. Slide-guitar, country-skiffle, and Sonny's trademark Americana voice are a-plenty on the most affectionate and immediate album from the San Francisco band.

SONNY SMITH copes with a painful separation from his girlfriend of 10 years on this extremely personal country album. Recorded directly to tape in a musty basement smelling of beer and tobacco, Longtime Companion explores live and heartache along the vein of Gene Clark, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Johnny Cash. Sonny dives into his self-described “sea of darkness” with a wide range of intimate lyrics, pedal steel, and acoustic guitars. After just one listen, it’s clear no other genre could so eloquently frame Sonny’s heartbreaking internal monologue more than the old-time country music he grew up with.