Sunny War is possibly the world’s biggest fan of Essex anarchists Crass, though on ‘One Way Train’, the first track on Armageddon in a Summer Dress, she seems in thrall to R.E.M. The verses chug along like ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’, the lyrics flowing in stream-of-consciousness fashion. However, ‘One Way Train’ is not see-what-I-feel-like whimsy – Sunny War (aka Sydney Ward) is very deliberately angry. “They wonder why you’re tired and so full of rage / When they’d rather you be fired than be paid a living wage” she sings on the same note, having fantasised about “no police or state” and the evaporation of “the fascists and the classists”. In other words, anarchy in the USA.
‘Bad Times’ opens with bright organ and swings like The Doors as a lounge band. “Bad times, stay away!” she repeats on the chorus on a track that explicitly refers to “working class grief”. Next track ‘Rise’ distils the album’s simultaneous despair and hope: “I know you’ve been cheated / Feeling so defeated / …But even still you have to rise.”
After her previous release Anarchist Gospel, Sunny War moved into her late father’s house, which she was convinced was haunted. The squawling organ and chimes on ‘Ghost’ are pure Scooby Doo before the creeping guitar riff turns it into a track that Christian Californian rockers Cold War Kids would eulogise. ‘Walking Contradiction’, the first single from Armageddon in a Summer Dress, is a duet with Steve Ignorant from Crass. The track is a succession of truths being spat, such as “All the war outside starts here at home / If they didn’t have our money they’d be fighting it alone / Doesn’t matter what your silly little signs have to say / Cuz the genocide is funded by the taxes that you paid.” How many other artists are releasing first singles about a modern-day holocaust?
Bob Dylan favourite Valerie June joins War on the woozy, catchy chorus of ‘Cry Baby’. The doom-mongering piano and frantic banjo on ‘No One Calls Me Baby’ could have come from a Nick Cave ballad. Tré Burt takes the lead on ‘Scornful Heart’ and the accompanying video of Burt and War bicycling around a suburb captures the track’s mellow, hazy summer afternoon vibe. ‘Gone Again’ is another collaboration – this time, John Doe from Los Angeles punk band X makes an appearance on a track that is lowkey Springsteen. ‘Lay Your Body Down’ is even more laid back than ‘Scornful Heart’ and is a pleasant lull before sprightly album closer ‘Debbie Downer’. On the chorus, War berates someone for being a “Negative Nancy / A Debbie Downer / You’re perpetually antsy / An infinite frowner”. Perhaps she is giving herself a rather harsh ticking off? She really shouldn’t though. There is plenty to frown about right now, but Armageddon in a Summer Dress is reason to be cheerful. Punk is well and truly alive, and with Sunny War it’s never sounded so tuneful.
Armageddon in a Summer Dress is out now on New West Records
