Review: “Try Again” by Sunnsetter

The newest single from Sunnsetter, titled “Try Again,” drops today on all streaming platforms. Sunnsetter is the project of Ontario-based producer and mixing engineer Andrew McLeod. McLeod’s experience with music production has certainly helped, as they have released six full-length albums since 2017. Their new single dropping today appears on a collection called “Try Again,” which features a previously released single called “I ACTUALLY DON’T WANT TO DIE.”

The song seems to deal with the idea of the power of thoughts and how change can be a good thing. One of the prominent themes of the song is the idea of constant change. The chorus reflects, “...never want to go back, and the time it just rolls on by, you notice no one ever stays the same, it goes around again.” The song also does focus on themes prevalent in their past work. 2023’s “The best that I can be.” focused on concepts such as loss, mental health, and gender identity. This song seems to carry on the discussion of mental health, specifically the power of thoughts and how negative thoughts can easily overtake when you’re not expecting it. But despite the solemn feel of the song, they build to a much more hopeful ending.   

The song ends on a beautifully important message: the words in your head are just thoughts and you can be whoever you want to be. Even if you’ve failed in the past, you can always try again (the antithesis to the earlier idea of the world constantly changing here is that because of the cyclical nature of the world, you can always try again). It’s a wonderful way to flip an idea that can be hard to something that provides hope.

The instrumentation of the song helps to drive the point of the song as well. The song first starts out with an acoustic guitar, a droning fuzzy bass line, and a drum beat. The synth bass especially seems to tie into the idea of the noise of the world and of the thoughts in your head. In the early part of the song it sets the tone of the heavier content of the song.

As the song continues, more instrumentation is added including strings giving the song a more beautifully sad sound. However, as the song builds towards the more hopeful ending to the song, the instrumentation follows suit. By the end of the song, the instrumentation has built to a beautiful crescendo with an overwhelmingly hopeful sound. This crescendo breaks and the song closes out with a solo acoustic guitar repeating the chord progression that provided the backbone of the song throughout.

McLeod’s production of this song is top notch. The song carries the atmospheric and shoegaze sound that is commonly utilized in their music. It is especially noticeable in the final verse when they build a wall of sound with the instrumentation, harmonized vocals, and the big airy atmosphere that the rest of the music is set against. It beautifully sets up the big crescendo at the end of the song that gives it the powerfully hopeful sound that it leaves you with.

You can find Sunnsetter and the song “Try Again” on all streaming platforms now.

Song: Try Again

Artist: Sunnsetter

Instagram: @sunnsetter

X: @sunnsettermusic