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Mar 01, 2022 By Caleb Campbell

Next month, Brooklyn-based band Sooner are set to share their debut album, Days and Nights, due out March 25th via Good Eye Records. Longtime friends John Farris (guitar) and Tom Wolfson (drums) started the band in 2016, before recruiting Federica Tasano’s powerful vocal talents and rounding up the lineup with Andrew Possehl’s dreamy basslines. Sooner released their first EPs in 2017 and 2018, offering glimpses of ramshackle dream pop brilliance and hazy shoegaze reveries.

The band were hard at work crafting their debut when COVID took everything off the rails. After a long series of delays, the band announced the album earlier this year with its lead single, “Boscobel” and followed last month with “Thursday.” Tomorrow they’re set to share their latest single, “Pretend,” but you can get a listen to it now, premiering with Under the Radar.

“Pretend” slots perfectly with the dreamy genre blend Sooner have crafted thus far, pairing swooning synths, watery guitars, and ethereal vocals to tremendous effect. Yet, the band also shows a penchant for indelible pop songcraft. They anchor the track with a propulsive rhythm section and chiming melodies bolstered by production and mastering from Digo and Jennica Best of Colatura. The band’s hooks break the track’s warm daydream haze, launching it forward in dizzying bursts of color.

However, beneath the catchy sheen and thick layers of guitar, there’s a darker undercurrent. As the band explains, “This definitely feels like the most pop-leaning song we’ve ever written. Despite it being one of our catchier hooks, the lyrics operate in dark contrast of the feeling – they’re about a sexual assault.”

Check out the song below. Days and Nights is out on March 25th via Good Eye Records.