Sunderbans - We Only Can Because We Care

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4...according to our Brett on Thu 04 Mar, 2010.

This band of plucky young Sheffield upstarts have a pleasantly DIY sort of indie rock feel that belies their songwriting ambition, with this tune snaking its way through a few twists and turns before the needle gets to the run-out. Impassioned vocals, clangy bass and trebly guitars.. I imagine this is what 90s types Tiger might've sounded like if they'd listened to more early Sonic Youth. God, I haven't thought about Tiger for a good while. This ain't bad at all.

Sunderbans take their name from The Sunderbans – a gigantic mangrove swamp on The Ganges delta, a place where tigers are forced to eat humans to survive.

Although the name comes from extended travels in India, the band actually met in the less tropical surroundings of Sheffield. Chris Hutchinson (vocals, bass) was performing as a one man band when he met Maurice Day (vocals, guitar). The desire for new adventure spurred the duo to move to London and start writing together. They added Dave Canning on drums, while all three share vocal duties.

Discovering a shared a love for Mark ‘E’ Everett, Nina Simone, traditional folk music and the way Sonic Youth “marry noise and intensity with occasional pop sensibility” they aimed in their sound to set aggression and breathlessness next to melody and gentleness.

Perfectly achieved in their almost menacingly raw live shows, Sunderbans went on to record their debut single with Henrik Orrling (Envelopes) and reunited with Y&L Club (home to Chris’ previous incarnation - Lets Bitter Cinema) to release “We Only Can Because We Care” and elegiac b-side “Life Support”.

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