Sonny + the Sandwitches – “Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die”

Sonny Smith has a new 4-song 7″ out December 11 on Empty Cellar Records, featuring more of the artwork from his 100 Records project. But there’s a story behind the music here, too:

Not long ago, Sonny Smith (Sonny & The Sunsets) survived a near-drowning off the coast of Northern California. The experience affected him profoundly and led to a wealth of output including a play, a novel, and a stack of songs. Sonny’s critically acclaimed “100 Records” project is itself a direct product of Sonny’s fight with the sea. A novel he began, “Adelard the Drowned”, broke into 100 pieces. Four of those pieces come as songs on this 7″ e.p., each bound to the next by a twisted braid of water and death. Through the fog and the haze, however, there lies in these songs a shared sense of redemption, transformation, or reawakening. Featuring appearances by Heidi and Grace of the The Sandwitches and a long-lost band called The Transients, this record features Sonny’s songwriting at its strongest, staring death in the face. Perhaps, this is in part why the ocean gave him back. Recorded in San Francisco and mastered by Paul Oldham, each record includes a comic book, four full-color album covers, and a high-quality digital drownload.