Jump to content

Shyga! The Sunlight Mound

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shyga! The Sunlight Mound
Studio album by
Released5 February 2021 (2021-02-05)
StudioTone City Studios, Western Australia
GenrePsychedelic rock[1]
Length40:39
LabelWhat Reality?
ProducerPsychedelic Porn Crumpets
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets chronology
And Now for the Whatchamacallit
(2019)
Shyga! The Sunlight Mound
(2021)
Night Gnomes
(2022)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.3/10[2]
Metacritic80/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
Beats Per Minute65%[1]
Clash8/10[4]
Classic Rock[5]
DIY[6]

Shyga! The Sunlight Mound is the fourth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. It was released on 5 February 2021 by What Reality? Records and Marathon Artists.[7][8]

At the 2021 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.[9]

Background

[edit]

The majority of the album was written and recorded in lead vocalist Jack McEwan's home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]

Release

[edit]

The band announced their fourth studio album on 15 October 2020.[7]

Singles

[edit]

On 5 August 2020, the band released the first single "Mr. Prism".[11] Of the single, McEwan said: "After our last tour of Europe I had a plethora of reasons to see a doctor. I was pushing through on all sorts of meds until someone offered me an alternative and I realised no matter how sick I’d ever be, I could never turn one down. Mr. Prism (my sickly fun-fuelled fiend of an alter-ego) was born."[12] Psychedelic Porn Crumpets released the official music video on their YouTube on 26 August 2020.[13]

The second single "Tally-Ho" was released on 15 October 2020.[14][15] The official music video was released on YouTube on 5 November 2020.[16]

The third single "Pukebox" was released on 13 January 2021. It was recorded at McEwan's home studio and Tone City Studios in Western Australia.[17] The official video was put up on YouTube on 1 February 2021.[18]

Critical reception

[edit]

Shyga! The Sunlight Mound was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 80 based on 8 reviews.[3] AnyDecentMusic? gave the release a 7.3 out of 10 based on a critical consensus of 7 reviews.[2]

In a review for Beats Per Minute, Conor Lochrie explained: "The first half of Shyga! contains most of the sharper hits, while the guitars on the second half are allowed to roam looser and longer. Apart from a few tracks like the interlude "Round The Corner", the guitar riffs dominate. They thrash and fizz and never let up; it can have a bit of an enervating effect after so much."[1] Megan Walder of Clash said: "With the high energy psychedelic haze that metamorphosises around anything this band touch, their exploration of complexities forever surprise. And such stress unites with excitement as we become the very embodiment of an album we have longed for. In fact, it almost didn't matter what SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound contained, as long as it was quintessential Psychedelic Porn Crumpets."[4]

Writing for DIY, Ollie Rankine said: "SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound sets its sights on something larger by dressing up fuzzy, high-intensity pop songs into ambitious prospects of sold-out stadium performances. Whether or not these expectations are realistic, the band seem determined to believe in the hype. As it hurtles uncontrollably down the tracks, the album is an accelerating freight train of insatiable guitar hero pageantry that rarely slows to catch its breath."[6]

Commercial performance

[edit]

In Australia, Shyga! The Sunlight Mound debuted at number four on the ARIA charts in the week of 15 February 2021.[19] The release also debuted at number two on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Albums Chart.[20]

Track listing

[edit]
Shyga! The Sunlight Mound track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Big Dijon"1:06
2."Tally-Ho"3:22
3."Sawtooth Monkfish"2:35
4."Tripolasaur"3:26
5."Mr. Prism"3:54
6."The Terrors"3:52
7."Hats Off to the Green Bins"2:53
8."Glitter Bug"3:31
9."More Glitter"0:35
10."Pukebox"3:09
11."Mundungus"2:44
12."Mango Terrarium"4:25
13."Round the Corner"0:39
14."The Tale of Gurney Gridman"4:29
Total length:40:39
Japanese edition bonus track[21]
No.TitleLength
15."I Wan'na Be Like You"2:29
Total length:43:13

Personnel

[edit]

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

  • Jack McEwan – vocals, production, recording (all tracks); guitars (tracks 1–8, 10–14), bass (2, 4–8, 10–14), Mellotron (7–9), synthesizer (13)
  • Luke Parish – production, recording (all tracks); guitar (tracks 2, 6, 11), synthesizer (5, 7, 8, 12), drums (10)
  • Danny Caddy – production, recording (all tracks); drums (tracks 2–8, 10–12, 14)
  • Chris Young – production, recording (all tracks); guitar (track 11)
  • Peter Coyne – production, recording
  • Wayan Biliondana – production, recording

Additional contributors

  • Michael Jelinek – co-production, mixing
  • Brian Lucey – mastering
  • Sam Ford – drums recording
  • Sgt_Slaughtermelon – cover artwork
  • Carlin DaCheff – inside gatefold artwork
  • Ben Caddy – strings (tracks 1, 4, 7, 8)
  • John Tooby – cello (track 1)

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Shyga! The Sunlight Mound
Chart (2021) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 4

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Lochrie, Conor (11 February 2021). "Beats Per Minute Review". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "AnyDecentMusic? Review". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Walder, Megan (3 February 2021). "Clash Magazine Review". Clash. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  5. ^ Marszalek, Julian (5 February 2021). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets overwhelm and bamboozle on Shyga! The Sunlight Mound". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b Rankine, Ollie. "DIY Magazine Review". DIY. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b Fuamoli, Sose (15 October 2020). "First Spin: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets drop 'Tally-Ho', announce new album". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  8. ^ Kenneally, Cerys (15 October 2020). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets announce fourth album with lead track "Tally-Ho"". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  9. ^ Kelly, Vivienne (20 October 2021). "ARIA Awards nominees revealed: Amy Shark & Genesis Owusu lead the charge". The Music Network. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  10. ^ Hill, Andy (5 February 2021). ""We Actually Met Through Our Drug Dealer!" Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Interviewed". Clash. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  11. ^ Murray, Robin (5 August 2020). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Share New Cruncher 'Mr Prism'". Clash. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  12. ^ Jenke, Tyler (5 August 2020). "Song You Need to Know: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, 'Mr. Prism'". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Mr. Prism". YouTube. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  14. ^ Jenke, Tyler (15 October 2020). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Share New Single 'Tally-Ho', Detail New Album". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  15. ^ Lim, Eddy (5 November 2020). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets drop trippy animated music video for latest single 'Tally-Ho'". NME. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Tally-Ho". YouTube. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  17. ^ Rose, Anna (13 January 2021). "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are back with new single 'Pukebox'". NME. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Pukebox". YouTube. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  19. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". ARIA. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  20. ^ "ARIA Top 20 Australian Albums Chart". ARIA. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Shyga! The Sunlight Mound" (in Japanese). p-vine.jp. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Shyga! The Sunlight Mound". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
[edit]