Multi-instrumentalist and many-times credited studio musician (Dum Dum Girls, Boredoms, Raveonettes) Sandra Vu spent years exploring the psych rock scene in Los Angeles. Now as the front-woman of SISU, she seeks to find the natural balance between the dark with the beautiful. Through deep introspection and sonic experimentation, Blood Tears is the cummulation of Vu’s insomnia-laden nights, where she learned to channel comfort through the means of explosive contrast. Thematically dark, there is still a certain uplift and sense of light to SISU’s debut album...

Blood Tears is the new album from SISU (fronted by Sandra Vu). This is an album that you'll either instantly fall in love with or not get at all. For me, it was like revisiting a period of my past, but updated for today's market.

Vu employs breathy vocals that cut through synth soundscapes and pierce through distortion leave a beguiling impression. But the sound is very much of a bygone era and wouldn't have sounded out of place during the New Wave period of the British pop music scene. It's gothy, postpunk sound isn't a million miles away from The Pixies and Siouxsie and the Banshees. It's retro '80s pop at its finest.

There are two bonus tracks on the album. The first is SISU's take on the Ray Davies's (The Kinks) 1965 song 'I Go to Sleep.' The track has been covered several times in the past (including Cher in 1965, Peggy Lee in 1965, Marion in 1967 and The Pretenders in 1981) and SISU bring their own breathy take on the original. The second is a cover of The Magnetic Fields's 'If You Don't Cry', taken from their 1999 three volume concept album 69 Love Songs.

The album contains 12 songs and lasts for 43 min, 41 sec.

7

Nick Smithson