Don’t be fooled by the location tag on the Sugadaisy Bandcamp profile labeled Kentucky, the whole band has relocated to Nashville. My Facebook feed tells me that local Nashville natives hate this kind of behavior but fuck that, the more the merrier.

Speaking of merriment, the latest EP from the band, entitled Come Together, Pretend Whatever​.​.​.​Celebration, is a collection of feel-good tracks overflowing with sweet little grooves, fun vocal lines and general goodheartedness. I’d go as far as to call this hippie music – not because it’s filled with meandering solos (it’s not) but because of that good natured delivery of every song. There’s something definitively delightful in every song. The horns on “Dusk vs Dawn”, the baritone refrain on “Throw It All Away”, the backing vocal flourishes on “Pretend” and the myriad of layered everything on “Suzii” make for a fun listen.

Unfortunately, labeling a band as “feel good” comes across as a pejorative. Music that instills a feeling of optimism and positivity is often not taken as seriously as dark or brooding music. That’s unfortunate because Sugadaisy’s EP provides an excellent dose of relief; something we could all benefit from in a time of relenting news updates.

After the first two preview tracks from Crease Reader (“Full Sun Prism Blues” and “Paris Syndrome”) were posted it was a fairly safe bet that any forthcoming full-length album that followed would be interesting to say the least. With the release of their debut LP, Lush Button, we can finally say just how interesting that offering is.

Fortunately, the report back is all positive marks. The album manages to juggle a lot of different influences and styles in one package; a trick that many bands fumble with pulling off so gracefully. Across the gamut of tracks there’s sitar style guitar picking, some spaghetti western drum vibes, psychedelic soaring guitars, a dash of 60’s keyboards here and there and vocals that may hazily drift along or explode with an emphatic chorus behind them. None of that is to say that the album is all over the place; each of these pieces are perfectly fused together and never at odds with one another. It’s an album that rewards multiple listens, revealing addition layers and infectious vocal parts with each visitation.

The band celebrates the release of the record on Friday, Nov 30th at The Basement with Lasso Spells, Holy Mountain Top Removers and Andy Ferro.

The WOTT Music episode with Lance Conzett focused on Nashville’s Pop Scene. He did a great job of laying some basics and provided plenty of entry points to dive deeper into the scene. In an attempt to follow along with that good work, here’s the latest from Dara – “Don’t Wanna Cry.”

The single is, without a doubt, of the ballad type; overflowing with heartache and a sincerely mournful delivery. There’s plenty of nods to 80’s instrumentation and production throughout but it’s balanced nicely with more modern expectations. This is exactly the kind of track that you’d blast at high volumes while balling your eyes out over an ex-lover.

The accompanying video, directed by Casey Pierce, is a visual treat cutting between slow panning soft palettes and highly filtered glitch effects. On paper it would sound insane but in execution, it’s mesmerizing.

We openly embrace our ignorance on the POP scene here in Nashville. Dara is yet another entry point into finding more quality music from a genre that our city isn’t known for but, clearly, can pull off with great results.

You may have likely already caught this Peachy music video premiere for “Fetish” over on The Cream. If so, watch it again. If not, now is your time to partake in one of the finer releases of 2018.

Taken from their debut album Squirt, “Fetish” contains all the punk-y fun of the rest of the record and maintains the liberated lyrics heard in the more directly confrontational tracks like “Rich Boy.” The video depicts a devilish character transforming a group of women into subjected fetish items like balloon-sitters and food mashers with some light S&M and lingerie thrown in to boot. However, the lyrics directly undermine those visuals with the chant of “No, I don’t get turned on by the things you say about my body.”

Some great quotes on the song and the video from band member Leah Miller over on the aforementioned Cream article, so be sure to cruise that if you’re interested in hearing more about the creation and impetus behind the video directly from the creators.