We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sunless

by Floating Room

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $3 USD  or more

     

  • Limited Edition Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sunless via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Sunless 3rd Pressing on Transparent Green Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sunless via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Sad God 03:54
“sad god” letting go of something that you still love I still had plans for you and all the things we’d do but now I just can't believe oh my sad god look at what we've become I thought I believed but was I the only one? the light still shows in the night it still glows but the darkness is so deep and I'm afraid I am too weak but now I just want to be strong to be strong oh my sad god look what we've become I thought I believed but was I the only one? oh my sad god forgive me for what I have done believe that I believed in the only golden son (sun)
2.
Dead Weight 04:25
“dead weight” strange men walk around isolated with a chip on their shoulders they are looking for a smile from you or from me but instead I find myself leaving use me abuse me just don’t confuse me our first kiss went like this like a stomp on the face of a quarter about to roll away my best friend wrote a poem and I cried at the line “you think I have nothing to say” so use me abuse me just don’t confuse me save me crave me hold my hand drag me down
3.
Bed 01:39
oh my darling it’s alarming how we lose track of the time if a tide came and we needed a life raft I think this bed would do just fine let’s start a fire and burn all we wish to leave behind all that’s required is that you keep your secrets and I keep mine
4.
Netsuki 01:53
5.
Warm Death 04:51
paint fumes and cold rooms who i was young love and drug use who i am isn’t it such a good thing that I’m not sad like I used to be? isn’t it such a good thing? why do my eyelids sometimes feel like warm coffins for my eyes? if nothing else happens then will I be surprised? isn’t it such a good thing that I’m not sad like I used to be? isn’t it such a good thing?
6.
Fun 03:00
oh I want to be the one who walks in the sun oh how I want to be the one who has all the fun but everyday a mirrors held up to my flaws and I try hard not to give into the idea that I should be small so what's the takeaway when I am constantly faced with doubt? you think my angers unfounded you think I have nothing to say oh my heart is continuously breaking I used to think this world was mine for the taking all the fear I feel has been learned I was born brave but I've been burned oh I want to be the one who walks in the sun who walks in the sun oh how I want to be the one who has all the fun who has all the fun but everyday a mirrors held up to my flaws and I try hard not to give into the idea that I should be small so what's the takeaway when I am constantly faced with doubt? you think my angers unfounded you think I have nothing to say
7.
Sunroom 01:14
8.
Driving 04:34
when i get back home gonna crack you like an egg on the side of my bed you reside in my head draw me in moth and flame it’s not your job to shake me awake yet you do it anyway that’s what drew me to you like a moth and flame if I touch your heat I may never be the same but i know your warmth will shelter from the pain let me sleep within the sheets of your head keep me around and I’ll keep you grounded I’ll shake you when you need it I’ll wake you when you need driving to your house I think I must be someone else because I’ve never felt like this before driving to your house
9.
Sick Day 01:06
two creatures on a decaying pumpkin a whole I told you things I shouldn’t have the first person who has tasted the depths of my belly button
10.
Canvas 01:26
I asked myself for something more than just another pessimistic point of view and all I could hope for is to start over new and be a blank canvas to show in front of you I will try to start over new and disprove to myself the things I think are true and I will try my best with you because though I don’t believe in much I do believe in you

about

The type of sadness felt at 4 in the morning, reserved for the heartbroken and nervous, is a tender and surreal one. The world feels like the wrong size; the moment small, quiet and solitary, the rest of the day foreboding at a gargantuan scale. It’s a moment of contingency and introspection, and it’s soundtracked by Floating Room’s new album Sunless.

The record tracks the end of one relationship and the beginning of another, with lyrics and a sound that comprehend every aspect of this delicate time. Maya Stoner and Kyle Bates, Floating Room’s creators, are able to channel a heightened level of intimacy and emotional competency with their combined musical history and shared personal connections. “Kyle and I were discussing writing and recording at a house show when the idea of collaborating first game up. I had a lot of love and respect for Kyle’s project, Drowse, so I was excited to see how his brain worked,” recants Stoner. The melancholy, textured aspects of Bates’ aforementioned project meld well with Stoner’s past experimental guitar rock bands, Sabonis and Forest Park. They meet in a place of sensitivity and experimentation. With the assistance of bass player and frequent collaborator Alec Van Staveren, Floating Room has classic emotive aspects that also include electronic influences and dark beats and bass lines that work to transcend the usual bedroom tape project. With a name referencing the gloomy weather of the band’s Pacific Northwest home, the album is evocative of overcast despondency–but refuses to wallow.

“We started playing music together when we started dating, writing these short, confessional songs and capturing them with our cell phones; we quickly discovered a mutual love for artists like Mirah, The Microphones, Duster, and Bedhead.” Bates and Stoners’ gendered voices, musical compatibility and parallel perspectives of growth are audible. Stoner’s lyrics appeal to relatable feelings whilst staying specific enough to tell her story, with Bates sonically interjecting his own. Finding lyrical inspiration in conversations had with her female friends, Stoner uses unabashed dejection and candidness to create a new form of emotionally charged and empowered music, self-described as “gray pop.” On the crushing track “Fun,” Stoner proclaims her strength by using past insecurities and hesitations to detail the feeling of being silenced by oppressive systems and individuals, but finding resilience within those experiences. Stoner’s vocal power backed by buoyant guitars makes for a song set to inspire.

The intimate confines of the bedroom in which Stoner and Bates record and create together are heard in the warmth and indulgence of each song, bookmarked by personal clips of the two exchanging questions or the whimpering of a dog. But, with each track their cozy realm grows. Sunless is the sound of sharing fears, and becoming stronger as a result.

– Emma Burke

credits

released November 18, 2016

Maya Stoner - guitar, vocals, drums, synths, beats
Kyle Bates - guitar, synths, samples, vocals, sound manipulation
Alec van Staveren - bass

Recorded by Maya Stoner and Kyle Bates between December 2015 and August 2016 in houses in NE Portland, with the exception of "Canvas", recorded by Maya Stoner in 2011.

Lyrics by Maya Stoner (except "Sick Day" by Kyle Bates).

Music by Maya Stoner with contributions from Kyle Bates and Alec van Staveren.

The cover art is a collaboration between Nellie Papsdorf (photograph) and Maya Stoner (illustrations).

Band photo by Mikey Duran.
mikeyduranphoto.com

Mastered by Parker Johnson and Quinn Jarvis-Holland at Oligopolist
home.oligopolistrecords.com

Released by Good Cheer Records (GC-018) - for more info, contact info@goodcheerrecords.com

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Floating Room Portland, Oregon

Portrait and background photos by Eirinn Lou Riggs

'Tired and True' painting by Ona Greenberg

contact / help

Contact Floating Room

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Floating Room recommends:

If you like Floating Room, you may also like: