Basic Folk 122 – Sunny War Track x Track

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Sunny War goes through her new album Simple Syrup track by track on the pod! Talking to Sunny is an absolute trip: she has lived through incredible trauma and addiction, but approaches life with a sharp sense of humor. This is all coming through on the new record, which was recorded in her usual spot in Venice Beach with producer Harlan Steinberger. Sunny’s deeply rooted in Los Angeles where she started a Downtown LA chapter of food not bombs, giving out a weekly lunch to homeless folks on skid row during the pandemic. This has made her think differently about food preparation, which is something she’s pretty passionate about. She talks about what it’s been like to make so many lunches at a time and how this process of coming together weekly feels like church.

And then we dig into this record, which contains songs about lucid dreaming, sober living, the military industrial complex, adult men acting like babies and her self realization that she’s not going to stop drinking right now even though she’s an addict. One album highlight, Like Nina, a song about Black women: four different archetypes: Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and Beyonce. Sunny writes them as personality types and “the only four I’m allowed to choose from.” Sunny, of course, aligns herself with the archetype of Nina Simone: kind of crazy, introverted, a weirdo. I can’t wait to talk to this weirdo again. She’s unlike anyone else. Enjoy!

Sunny’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Sunny’s new album Simple Syrup