The Key Studio Sessions: Sonnder

Last December, I got an unassuming email from Ryan Weidman, frontman of Philadelphia modern rock outfit Sonnder. It was my introduction to him and the band, but I immediately liked what I heard: he basically laid out plans to launch a single-a-month project for the year 2015. I try to be a goal-oriented person myself, so I dig it when I see musicians doing the same thing – see also: Ben Hughes (album a month) and That Dream Was our Life (EP a month). Once I made up my mind to keep tabs on what Sonnder was delivering, it was hard to miss.

The four-piece band (with occasional other collaborators) has roots in West Chester and Bucks County, and came together at University of the Arts. Over the course of the project so far, it has channeled a variety of artists from Metric to Jimmy Eat World. Keyboardist Kat Stein’s atmospheric tones evoke The Cure’s late 80s / early 90s work, while Wediman’s falsetto vocals are eerily reminiscent of Circa Survive’s Anthony Green. The songs can be deeply serious and laced with drama (the brooding melancholia of “Not Far Enough”) as easily as they can be loose and playful (“Siren Calling,” a bouncy and danceable single that came out earlier this summer), and there’s a definite reason why. Weidman began writing music after personal struggles with depression, and found it to be an incredible way of not only coping but healing; it makes sense that his songs would operate in both realms, cathartic and carefree.

The endgoal is a full-length to follow up Sonnder’s 2014 EP, Thief, with a release targeted for March of 2016. Weidman says the album will feature all 12 songs from the year-long project, plus interstitial ambient interludes tying them together. Exciting stuff, and you can get a taste of it in person this Saturday night when Sonnder headlines MilkBoy (tickets and info at the XPN Concert Calendar) – or on September 25th, when they celebrate the release of their next single with an instore at Siren Records. You can hear live version of music from the project this week’s Key Studio Session, plus a handful of other tracks old and unreleased. Listen and download below, and check out a video of Sonnder playing “Not Far Enough” in our studio, shot by Ali Brant Photography.