Sunday,June
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Sunday,June have clearly decided that psychedelic pop doesn't need to float away into the ether. Sometimes it needs to get its boots dirty, grab hold of a guitar and wrestle with real life. ‘What If I Tried?’ is the result: three and a half minutes of shimmering guitars, hazy psych textures and indie-rock muscle wrapped around a song about the simplest and most difficult idea of all — trying again when everything is telling you not to bother.
The Geneva-based Hispano-Swiss five-piece, led by Valencian musician Mario Peiró Espí, have coined their own wonderfully evocative description for what they do: solar psych. It fits. ‘What If I Tried?’ has warmth running through its circuitry, but there is nothing sugary about it. The guitars glint rather than sparkle, the rhythm section keeps things moving with a restless pulse, and the whole track seems to exist somewhere between a sun-drenched afternoon and the slightly uncomfortable realisation that you've been putting off the thing you really want to do.
And that tension is where the song really earns its stripes. The lyric is deceptively direct, circling frustration, vanity, doubt and perseverance before repeatedly returning to that wonderfully stubborn refrain: “But I tried / And I try.” It sounds less like a motivational slogan than something muttered to yourself at three in the morning when the grand plan has gone sideways and you're trying to convince yourself that tomorrow is still worth having a go at. That makes it considerably more human — and considerably more compelling.
Musically, Sunday,June refuse to sit obediently inside one box. The opening has a rawness that gives way to finely cut, glassy guitars, while the chorus brings a beautifully nostalgic pop sensibility into the mix. Shoegaze drifts around the edges, psychedelic flourishes blur the boundaries and there is an indie-rock directness that occasionally recalls the more expansive side of Arcade Fire without ever turning into imitation.
Then comes the payoff: the outro gradually stretches outward, allowing the track to breathe and build rather than rushing towards an obvious finish. It's a smart move, because Sunday,June understand that atmosphere is part of the song. They aren't simply throwing effects at the wall and hoping something sticks; every texture adds to the sense of movement, as though the track itself is slowly discovering where it wants to go.
That feels particularly appropriate for a band whose forthcoming second album is called Cinema. Recorded live at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire with producer Andy Savours — whose credits include My Bloody Valentine, Arctic Monkeys and The Killers — Cinema promises a bigger, more organic evolution from the band's 2025 debut Sun Glitter and Other Reflections. ‘What If I Tried?’ certainly suggests they've found a sweet spot between ambition and spontaneity.
Most importantly, the track feels alive. You can sense the players rather than simply hearing the production around them, and that gives its polished psychedelic surfaces a human pulse underneath. It has enough hooks to pull you back, enough atmosphere to reward repeated listens and enough emotional ambiguity to stop it becoming just another pleasant indie tune.
Sunday,June are making music for the space between giving up and having another go. ‘What If I Tried?’ lives precisely in that gap — wistful but never defeated, dreamy without disappearing up its own psychedelic backside, and warm enough to make the struggle feel strangely beautiful. If this is the first glimpse of Cinema, the album could be one hell of a trip.
For more information: Sunday,June
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