It’s easy to be misled by the band name Hot Wheels and the sleeve of their full-length debut album Sun Blonde. It turns out to be a solo project by Los Angeles-based painter and musician Dan Bruinooge, who previously played with bands such as Sylvie, Golden Daze, Vinyl Williams and Stacey. The cover features his 2019 painting Faith, plus lyrics from the title track: “I can’t shake this feeling // Like this day isn’t real // Sun Blonde as she shines down // Know just how I feel.” You’ll hear psychedelic indie pop, a kind of quiet and partly instrumental, sliding between new age drones and nostalgic surf rock, where the atmosphere it evokes seems more important than the actual meaning – like a summer counterpart to the soundtrack from Twin Peaks. Warm melancholia as impressionistic art.
Sun Blonde is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Earth Libraries. Written, composed and performed Dan Bruinooge, produced in collaboration with Lionel Williams.
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