Kwanz Poured Lo-Fi Longing into Dream-Soaked Indie Rock in Where the Sun Sets –

Where the Sun Sets, the latest single from Kwanz, echoes what Elliott Smith’s music would have been if he had sunk his sound into a pool of saturation and wandered towards a more ethereal Violent Femmes aesthetic. The tender melodic currents caress with the same fragility, yet they drift through a haze that carries far more weight than nostalgia alone. There’s something dream-soaked and carefree about this seminal release; it conjures the sensation of lying back in fading sunlight, watching time slip by in slow, honeyed frames.

The modern take on 90s lo-fi, seemingly pulled straight from a worn tape deck, allows memory and immediacy to converge. That slight warp in the fidelity doesn’t obscure the resonance; it heightens it, pulling the listener into a drift of pure euphonic longing. Where the Sun Sets unfolds like an indie-rock lullaby that doesn’t plead for attention but instead demands complete immersion. It’s a track that carries you elsewhere, inviting your aspirations to dissolve and transcend with the timbres in its cultivated tones.

Fresh from the hiatus of Yaard Sale, where he served as frontman, Kwanz has stripped his artistry back to its most personal influences. His new EP captures the essence of change, mirroring the warmth and melancholy of shifting seasons while offering music he describes as for “real yearners only.” That yearning cuts through Where the Sun Sets, transforming it into more than a seasonal vignette; it’s a reminder of how longing, when channelled with authenticity, can make lo-fi sound like lifeblood.

Where the Sun Sets is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast