Sunset Rollercoaster
https://youtu.be/Dxq0IqhT3XI
Sunset Rollercoaster is a 5-member Taiwanese band. Not only do they have a guitarist, two percussionists, bassist, and keyboardist, but they also have their very own saxophone player. And he kills it. Sunset Rollercoaster has gained a lot of recognition as a band from Taipei, Taiwan whose songs are in English. In 2011, the band was established and released their debut album, Bossa Nova. After a tour for that album, the band went on a hiatus until reuniting in 2015. The synth-filled Jinji Kikko EP was released in 2016. It brought a new sound to the band, which quickly gained international attention. After two years, the band’s second album, Cassa Nova was released.
I would say their vibe is a funky, 80’s dream inspired band. According to their Bandcamp page, Sunset Rollercoaster IS “subtropical love, breezin’” which, if we’re being honest, I can really hang with. Each member contributes their own aspect of the groovy sound together through this given instrument set. On the Jinji Kikko EP in particular, there are a lot of long solos, as there are only 3 songs. You forget there’s a keyboard player until there’s a sick solo when the melody escapes after three minutes and it feels like pure bliss. Then right out from under the keyboard comes a sax solo that is just SO jazzy it fills your heart with pure goodness like it was just what you didn’t know you needed, but they gave it to you anyway.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1NHZfGzz1bgy03FDQZq0aw?si=gbvZfl48RHiFF_d-VmPUqA
Bossa Nova feels very different than the rest of Sunset Rollercoaster’s more recent discography. It is much more analog and heavier, certainly more rock influenced. As bands normally do, Sunset Rollercoaster explored and expanded on their genre, which of course resulted in a shift. They just have a different sound than they had in 2011. A sweet tune I really like from that album is called You Know I Know I Love You.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6lgFrbyYUcUBdPyTiRN0RH?si=o6IvIsFhSc67zugxwIJjJA
Jinji Kikko was obviously very 80’s inspired with its synth filled sound. In my personal opinion, this EP is one of the special albums in the world (even though it’s 3 songs I’m still grouping it with albums for all intents and purposes) in which every song is an absolute banger. Burgundy Red? They did that. My Jinji? Absolutely solid. New Drug? Killed it!
https://open.spotify.com/track/0lqkkgY2La4JwVheEjs7Wz?si=YOvSUvQ_T5WQAd3E7kGyAg
Cassa Nova continues Sunset Rollercoaster’s love affair with 80’s inspired funk but dials it down from the heavy synths Jinji Kikko to include more diverse musical exploration with more distinction between other instruments. A fun fact about this album is that the last song bleeds into the first song on Jinji Kikko! We love when our favs pull that sneaky shit!
See the first installment of Get to Know with never young beach here.
