Album Review - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays

By Sam Duff

When picking an album to review for Burst, it became a struggle between picking a classic, a Bristol favourite/local, or something just out there, so then I found myself listening to a familiar favourite, an album I return to so many times, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays. Although it’s not an out there choice and its neither a giant nor a forgotten album, to me it is a classic. It’s one of my most listened to albums for sure, and although not from Bristol, the band met and formed at Bristol University. It felt like the right choice and a good start, first some background about the band and the album.

The Sundays are an alternative/indie rock band formed in 1988 by Harriet Wheeler and David Gavurin, meeting at Bristol University, the band got signed by Rough Trade, and their first album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic was released in 1990. Their song ‘Here’s where the story ends’ from the album is probably one of the most known Sunday’s songs, owing to a brief bit of viral fame, a clip from a German chart show of the band performing it with a noticeable unpolish on the video and low quality audio on the vocals leading to it garnering a certain appeal, I too enjoyed its brief spot in the long line of a million things that go viral every week, but clearly what stuck with people beyond the appeal of the video was the songwriting and the band’s great sound.

The album is a nice 38 minutes long and leaves you wanting more in the best way. The band’s sound, which I still think hasn’t sounded better than this album, is this great product of the jangly guitar sounds of 80s indie, that sound associated in many people’s eyes with The Smith’s and Aztec Camera and the cusp of the more shoegaze dream pop that would dominate the 90s. The Sunday’s blend it with this slightly wispy and distant production, and their songs have this sort of folk hint creating this slight timeless feel out of what could be quite dated, combined with Gavurin and Wheeler’s songwriting, and Wheeler’s incredible singing voice, the songs have this very much lamenting tone, but also this underlying feeling of content, curiosity and acceptance of the world, more specifically dreary late 80s Britain, despite one of the classic hallmarks of the British, the complaining, it never comes across as always fully sad. Some of my favourites are the opener, Skin And Bones, obviously Here’s Where the Story Ends, Hideous Towns, You’re Not The Only One I Know and My Finest Hour.

The album just sounds great and feels great, it can fit so many different moods, if you’re a fan of 80s or 90s alt and indie there’s bound to be something you enjoy here, and I think modern indie fans will really resonate with the vocals and the lyrics, it’s worth checking out.