Q&A with Kyle Ross from Fuzzy Sun: ‘This EP was always going to be a bit darker and heavier; we wanted to explore more cinematic elements and delve into more electronic/ambient textures’

Manchester indie-outfit Fuzzy Sun unveiled their six-track EP, ‘Since The Dog Died’, last month, giving us oodles of processed drum machines combined with big, distorted riffs, reversed guitars and lots of delay pedals. There is an overriding thematic arc of depression which seamlessly ties each of the six tracks on the EP together. From previous singles ‘Fake It’ and ‘Morning Light’ to the newly unveiled ‘Time Out’ and ‘Moviestar’, the quartet feel their way out of a period of disillusionment and into a brand new era fronted by unabashed euphoria, cinematic textures and classic indie rock swagger.

Here, frontman Kyle Ross tells The Bucket Playlist how the album represents a new chapter for the band.

How would you describe your new EP to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?

The EP stands as a new chapter for the band, mixing elements of rock, pop and electronica into our own sound. There is a heavy cinematic influence in our music, aiming to create rich soundscapes. The EP explores themes of depression, longing, disillusionment, hope, and even the philosophical. Lyrically, I think it’s a snapshot of the inside of my mind at a very specific point in time.

Where does your name come from?

The name Fuzzy Sun comes from a track on the wonderful EP ‘Halfway to a Threeway’ by Jim O’Rourke, which you should definitely go and listen to, it’s fantastic. I loved the track and the title and thought it would be good band name as well. So we settled on that and also it’s a lovely way to pay homage to a great musician and influence. 

When you started to put together ‘Since The Dog Died’, did you have a very defined idea as to how you wanted it to sound?

We started to put the EP together in the summer last year during lockdown. The direction was always clear in as much as we wanted to create a new direction for the music. We definitely wanted to add in much more of our shared interests. This EP was always going to be a bit darker and heavier; we wanted to explore more cinematic elements and delve into more electronic/ambient textures. So, yeah, we definitely had a goal in that sense but also when working through individual songs we like to let them take shape in a natural way, rather than forcing a specific sound or genre on them. So, in that way, we can let our range of musical interests come through but because they are our songs they will always have a specific Fuzzy Sunness about them.  

Does the EP title actually reference someone’s dog passing away?

The title ‘Since the Dog Died’ has a couple of meanings. Lewis (on bass) came up with the title as his dog unfortunately did pass away last year. When he mentioned it as an idea for the EP title we all really liked it as it also felt fitting to where we were as a band. We had a fair few changes behind the scenes, personally and musically, so it felt like a new chapter and when you lose something dear to you, you do have to regroup. So while it is about a real moment in time, it also symbolically represents a new beginning in a way.  

How would you describe your very catchy track on the EP, ‘Fake it’?

‘Fake It’ was one of the later songs to make it onto the EP, it almost came out of nowhere. Sonically it’s a “balls to wall” big guitar tune in essence. But there are also lots of different ambient textures that run throughout, and heavy use of vocoders on parts of the vocals which adds to that electronic feel. Sonically, we wanted to create a punchy guitar tune with an anthemic chorus. The song is very much about depression and how we put on a brave face to everyone else to try and get by, hence the line “Fake that smile, don’t let it out”. It’s about my struggle at the time but also I think it’s very relatable in the grander sense of things. I think pretending to be happy or making it seem that way is a big problem within society today and something we need to work on.  

Throughout this EP, there is a definite thematic arc of depression throughout the songs as a lot of the lyrical content is basically a snapshot into my mind at that specific time. Our song ‘Köln’ is no different, it’s about not feeling comfortable in yourself and surroundings, almost being trapped. I was having a coffee with a close friend, an actor who was feeling very similar at that time and he said, “I feel like I’m a puppet who’s had its strings cut”. It really stuck with me and that inspired the lyrics to this song. It’s not really about a trip to Köln but we did have a day there on our tour last year on our way to Berlin, and it’s a reference to when times were better, an escape from a dark place.

How do you typically tend to write your songs?

The writing process differs from song to song but mainly someone comes up with a chord structure or musical part and then we build around it. It’s in a similar way to which you build a house – start with a basic structure and then go as crazy as you want from there. I tend to write most of the lyrics but again that’s not always strictly the case.  

I really love ‘China Pearl’. How would you describe it sonically and what’s it about?

Thanks very much, glad ya like it! Musically we wanted something quite aggressive, so we used processed drum machines combined with big distorted riffs, we wanted it to sound electronic and mechanical, which again relates to the subject matter of the tune. We also experimented with a lot of soundscapes and vocoders, using reversed guitars and a lot of delay pedals rather than using synths which was a lot of fun in the studio. It was inspired by the works of Virilio and Baudrillard (French social theorists). The song is about the loss of meaning in society due to our culture of technology and speed, how we are living in the hyperreal and I suppose my fears of what little grounding we have left. 

What can we expect from you next?

Material wise we have a lot ready to go, so yeah, you can definitely expect more tunes. We don’t have anything set in stone yet but for sure more new music is coming!  We’d love to do something with someone like Four Tet or Floating Points, it would be amazing to do something a bit off the wall or even just have them remix a tune. Also, I’d love to have Aidan Moffat from Arab Strap feature on a song of ours, that would be a dream for me. If we are talking about dream collabs, to do something with Wolf Alice would be mega, I would love to have some dual vocal parts with Ellie’s voice!  

What has been your funniest moment as a band?

There’s definitely a few! The one that jumps to mind is when we played a gig in Lincoln. After the show, we decided it would be nice to have a couple of beers next to the castle walls. So we were trekking up the hill to get to the castle walls and didn’t realise how steep it was and Lewis got about a foot from the top with a full box of beers and just went tumbling down to the bottom. I don’t know how funny this sounds written down but it was possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen! Anyway, it actually gets better as well… we get back to the hotel and I find a first aid kit and bandage Lew up because he cut his hand clean open. Anyway, we had a few drinks in the reception and decided it was time to go bed. Following the instructions Raff (guitar) sent us to get to our rooms, we go upstairs and fly into our room only to find we have just walked into a complete random person’s room who is fast asleep! We are stood outside trying to figure out if it’s our room, as the other band members were already asleep, and go back in to find a very confused gentleman stood at the door bollock naked! So we realised at that point we were in the wrong place. We decided to just sleep in reception as we couldn’t find where we were supposed to be sleeping!

Where would you most like to hear one of your songs played?

If they could change the theme tune for BBC News to one of our tunes, that would be mint as it’s prime time and on multiple times a day – the royalties would be class! I’d like to play the Etihad Stadium as I’m a Man City fan. I think as a band, we would love to play a headline show at Manchester Apollo and Alexandra Palace is an insane venue. Obviously, these are dream venues to do, haha! There are so many people we’d love to play with – a big day festival with Radiohead, Cage The Elephant, Daft Punk, RHCP, The 1975, Motorpsycho, Four Tet, King Creosote & John Hopkins….. that’s off the top of my head, there are loads more, too!’

(Photo from left to right: Mitch, Kyle, Lewis and Raffaele.)