[podcast]http://media.libsyn.com/media/thebaybridged/Sleepy_Sun_Show.mp3[/podcast] Appropriately enough, our last band-profiling podcast of 2009 features Sleepy Sun, an SF psych-rock band who made a big impact this year with the release of their debut album Embrace. Sleepy Sun formed in Santa Cruz, a community with a strong pedigree for contemporary psych (e.g., Comets on Fire, Mammatus), before relocating to SF and attracting the attention of the All Tomorrows’ Parties-affiliated label ATP Recordings. The band supported Embrace with touring across the US and Europe, finding time somewhere to work on new recordings as well.

Subscribe to the The Bay Bridged weekly podcast to get each new episode downloaded free to your iTunes the moment it’s published!

Embrace has both an immediate and a lasting appeal. Whether you’re drawn first to the charismatic vocal hooks or potent electric guitars, the album strikes, to our ears, a great balance between melodic rock and psych experimentation. Perhaps surprisingly, the balance appears to gave emerged less from any preconceived plan than from the intuition of a group of talented performers whose musicianship is evident in their fiery live shows. Where their intuition takes Sleepy Sun’s new recordings is something we can’t wait to find out.

We sat down with Bret and Evan a little while back to discuss the band’s more recent recordings, their extensive touring, and starting out in Santa Cruz. We’ve also included three great songs from Embrace in the episode.

Upcoming Shows:

Sleepy Sun are currently touring Europe. Head to their MySpace page for all of their upcoming dates.

Links:

– Visit the band on MySpace, their web site, Facebook, and their blog.

– Purchase Embrace and the band’s singles from their official store and on iTunes.

– Check out videos for “Red/Black,” “White Dove” and “New Age” on the group’s YouTube channel.