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Jun 15, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Nicholas Despis

Minneapolis singer/songwriter J.E. Sunde is back tomorrow with his first album in three years, Alice, Gloria, and Jon. The record follows after his 2020 effort, 9 Songs About Love, and finds him occupying a similar space of rich songwriting and sobering poetics, now with a gleaming combination of synths and acoustic instrumentation. Recorded in Eau Claire, WI with longtime collaborator Shane Leonard, the record is Sunde’s attempt to write a singer/songwriter record with unconventional inspirations, including Krautrock, JJ Cale, and synth pop.

Today, ahead of the record’s release, Sunde is sharing an early listen to one of its highlights, “Turn The Radio On,” along with an accompanying video, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Turn The Radio On” brims with warmth, carried by understated acoustics, empathetic lyricism, and a bright earworm hook. The track’s heart lies with a quiet indie folk core, but Sunde layers in wistful and nostalgic melodies between the stripped-back acoustics, lending it plenty of winsome pop charm. It’s the type of song that could and should get played on the radio, though it likely will sound equally moving while being sung in a crowd or even played alone. It is a universal song written in tribute to the universality of music, the way it can deeply affect anyone who hears their own story in the lyrics: “If all this running / Is running you down / It keeps on coming / ‘Til you’re in the ground / When the reason’s gone / It will run you through / Turn the radio on / I’ll be speaking to you.”

Sunde says of the track, “This song turned out to be a pretty blunt expression of how I hope my music can be of service to people. I do hope the music is entertaining, which is certainly a service, but more and more I’ve realized that the main thing I want to do is put words to the questions and struggles of life in such a way that people who listen will hear their own experience sung back to them and know that they aren’t alone. As I’ve gone to therapy and opened up to a community of friends and family, I’ve become convinced that however weird and isolating our individual struggles might seem, the truth is that these struggles are the rule rather than the exception. If we could just open up to one another we’d constantly be saying, “oh, you too?” I want people to know that instead of being isolated by their struggles, they are surrounded by people who understand. That the only way to be free of these burdens is to share them. So as the end of the song says, ‘All I’m ever really saying is you’re not alone.’

Check out the song and video below. Alice, Gloria, and Jon is out everywhere tomorrow, June 16th via Vietnam Records.