Christchurch husband-and-wife indie folk duo Terrible Sons return with new single ‘Sunset Swimming’. The announcement is supported by an eight-date nationwide tour happening in November and early December.
‘Sunset Swimming’ is a song about nostalgia, about remembering and how memories tend golden, while in the present it’s often our conflicts that come to the fore.
Matt Barus, one half of the band, says the song “comes with an image in my head of Te Rāpaki-o-Te Rakiwhakaputa, one of our favourite bays to swim at. It’s just over the Port Hills in Christchurch, through the tunnel. I’ve been going there for over twenty years. That’s a lot of accumulated memories, trekking over the path, with friends current and long gone. It’s got a grassy hill, like a small auditorium, that looks out over a sandy beach studded with pesky, sharp rocks. So many of our songs come from being by the water, we can’t keep the longing out of that.”
For the recording, Terrible Sons ventured deep into their backyard home studio with long term friends and collaborators Jo McCullum (Nadia Reid, The Veils) on drums and percussion, Jo Barus (Dave Dobbyn) on bass, guitar and on producing the record Tom Healey (Tiny Ruins, Marlon Williams, Nadia Reid). Watch the lyric video for ‘Sunset Swimming’ below.
Lauren Mitchell and Matt Barus (Terrible Sons) have long been a part of the local musical landscape, previously releasing records with pop rock band the Dukes and performing in Aotearoa supergroup Fly My Pretties, alongside a variety of collaborative, performing and songwriting work.
This November and early December will be the duo’s first tour as Terrible Sons and audiences can expect stories, laughter, hopefully some tearing up and a baker’s dozen of songs. They’ll be joined in Te Ika-a-Māui by friend and singer songwriter Rodney Fisher (Goodshirt) and in Te Waipounamu by Hannah Everingham, fresh from releasing her wonderful debut single ‘So Long Underground’. Full tour dates are below, with tickets on sale now at Undertheradar.
Watch: Terrible Sons – ‘Sunset Swimming’
Stream / Download: https://
Terrible Sons – Sunset Swimming Tour 2022
Wednesday 16th November – The Wine Cellar, Auckland w/ Rodney Fisher
Thursday 17th November – Last Place, Hamilton w/ Rodney Fisher
Friday 18th November – Leigh Sawmill Cafe, Leigh w/ Rodney Fisher
Saturday 19th November – Secret Location
Saturday 26th November – The Grand Hotel, Akaroa w/ Hannah Everingham
Friday 2nd December – Grainstore Gallery, Oamaru w/ Hannah Everingham
Saturday 3rd December – Bark @ Dog With Two Tails, Dunedin w/ Hannah Everingham
Friday 9th December – Fairfield House, Nelson w/ Hannah Everingham
Tickets available HERE via UTR
Praise for Terrible Sons:
“The Christchurch husband-and-wife folk duo have been quietly taking over the world, one stream at a time.” – Karl Puschmann, Viva Magazine
“Terrible Sons makes music that’s quite tender, almost fragile. It’s steeped in folk traditions and sometimes, like on their song ‘What a Friend’, it’s quite breathtaking.” – Tony Stamp, RNZ The Sampler
“The EP Mass is honest and beautifully crafted.” – James Belfield, Waiheke Weekender
“Mass is a stark, quiet collection of deeply romantic songs that hark back to the sweeping indie glory of Kings of Convenience and Feist. It’s the kind of music that feels destined to soundtrack the idiosyncratic indie cinema of the mid-2000s. It’s luscious, organic and so, so intimate.” – Tone Deaf
“Terrible Sons craft songs like complex beautiful dioramas constructed from the emotional stuff of life.” – American Pancake
Terrible Sons is the moniker for husband/wife duo Matthew Barus (The Dukes) and Lauren Barus (L.A. Mitchell, Fly My Pretties), who work and live with their two children in an intentional community near Christchurch. Having clocked up over 18 million streams on previous singles since 2018, the quietly accomplished band is signed to Canadian label Nettwerk. The band’s string of sparse, yet intimate modern folk EP releases include their most recent, and much-anticipated third EP Mass.
