Looms is the NYC-based songwriting project of one Sharif Mekawy, and their new album Waking Days has been out for about a month now. Sunshine is one of the hidden-gem middle-of-the-album tracks with a great music video to boot (edited by our favorite psychedelic crazies Sharkmuffin).
The most striking aspect of this track to me is how much country influence it maintains without falling into the rut of so many tired country licks. The texturing (especially the wah tone, which sounds like it comes from a synth) is probably what makes me lean towards country, but the groove of the track is a solid fusion of almost roots rock and roll vibes with an almost Steely Dan-esque jazz-rock resolution pattern. The video is a black-and-white retro montage which centers on several different young white women, though it doesn’t seem to have a linear narrative. Most of these shots (she drives a car, she looks out onto the water, she is dazzled by bright lights) are just convenient aesthetic similarities between song and video exploited intelligently (“a pretty smile I could not lose” cuts to a woman’s smiling face, looped twice for the duration of the lyric). It’s a nice combination of the flashy (Corvettes!) and the sexualized (Women in short dresses!), almost a contradictory combination of themes when compared against the track’s bloomingly positive key leads, major resolutions, and laid-back groove. All in all, Sunshine is a good summation of Looms‘ aesthetic: twangy, old-timey, and smooth all at once, with a large emphasis on what and how Sharif is singing.
You can stream the rest of Looms’ debut LP below, or keep up with them on social media.
