Heartland Canadian indie rockers The Sarandons deliver an ominous anthem with their latest single “The Great Divide”, replete with frenetic guitar and alluring melodies. The Sarandons are the fully collaborative endeavour of Toronto music stalwarts Dave Suchon (vocals, guitar), Damian Coleman (bass, vocals), Edmund Cummings (keys, vocals), Craig Keeney (lead guitar) and Phil Skot (drums), who have been creating together in different projects for over a decade and a half. The Sarandons have shared stages with Kiwi Jr., Dakota Mill, Mattie Leon, Julie Title and more.
Chasing 2023’s successful full-length Sightlines – The Sarandons’ “The Great Divide” is among the darkest and heaviest songs they’ve released and it’s also one of the most stripped-down. It’s the five members rocking out with very little double tracking and not much in the way of instrumental overdub. By pulling things out of the mix and having verses, for example, just as bass, drums and vocal, things feel big and explosive.
Producer Dan Hosh (Wild Rivers, City and Colour, Glorious Sons), was instrumental in getting the final sound. He dialled in the feature bass and drum sounds as well as equipping the chorus vocal with sufficient slapback to recall the 80s’ Bowie records. Hosh has also gotten the band to trust itself musically and stay with bold singular ideas. “The Great Divide” is The Sarandons delivering unadulterated, unfiltered rock.
The single cover is by Matthias Brown, known as TraceLoops (Fiona Apple, Courtney Barnett, MTV, The Tate Modern). The cover is the result of a physical artistic experiment, where a grainy black and white print portrait is methodically sliced into tiny pieces and then reassembled to reveal a kaleidoscopic impressionist image filled with spiralling reflections. The final image as well as a stop animation video of the entire process are both part of the visuals for this record.
The video for the song is a lyric video taken to the next level. Reunited with Bartobak, who had previously done the video for “Stand Down”, a stop animation cartoon romp in the style of the Monty Python’s Flying Circus intro, “The Great Divide” video builds on the cut up squares motif from Trace Loops and lives as a grainy strange black and white talking head video.
Name:
The Sarandons
Genre:
Indie rock
Founded:
2019
# of Albums:
2 six-song EPs, 1 full-length ten-song EP, 2 live records, this, “Say When”/”The Great Divide” single.
Latest Album:
“Say When”/”The Great Divide” single.
Latest Single:
“The Great Divide”
Latest Video:
Favourite musician growing up:
The Beatles
Favourite musician now:
Wilco
Guilty pleasure song:
Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
Live show ritual:
Some good Mexican food, some beers and maybe a shot of whiskey.
Favourite local musician:
Blue June
EP or LP?
LP
Early bird or night owl?
Night owl
Road or studio?
Studio
Any shows or albums coming up?
We’re promoting “The Great Divide” which came out on 13 October 2023.
Where can we follow you?
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Rapid Fire Local Questions:
What is your favourite local restaurant?
Botham’s
What is your favourite street in your city and why?
McMurray Ave, home of a growing and awesome music festival
What is your favourite park in your city and why?
Sir Winston Churchill for the views and the running.
What is your favourite music venue in your city?
The Dakota Tavern
What is your favourite music store in your city?
Pandemonium.
