Suburban Living

It’s a wonder Wesley Bunch doesn’t write more songs about burritos. The man behind Virginia Beach’s Suburban Living, Bunch composes tight jingles of shoegazey dream-pop that are not merely about his surroundings, but entirely of them. His affection for Tex-Mex is only tangentially represented on his recent Cooper’s Dream EP, which stems from broader conversation topics like temporary poverty, David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” and the mundane melancholy of living in the suburbs. At times ethereal and indirect, Cooper’s Dream ultimately provides a convincing distillation of the inner tensions between comfortable appeasement and a more challenging growth process that faces just about all 20-somethings these days. Recently, Bunch sat outside of a neighborhood Chipotle to talk to Prefix about getting comfortable in the suburbs, recording solo, and trying to sound like Prince.




Is it just a matter of convenience, or are you willing to take a stand on the debate between Chipotle and Qdoba?

Chipotle all the way. I eat way too much Chipotle. Like, all those pop-culture jokes about Chipotle—I think it’s the bomb. Reasonably priced, good food; I really like Tex-Mex stuff.

How long have you been writing music?

It’s been a while, about seven years ago. I started playing out when I was 14, just some real crummy, kind of folky stuff. Then I joined this post-rock, instrumental band with some friends. And I just recently made Suburban Living my main goal. It started just as a side project—I guess you could say—from my post-rock band. It’s very different. Suburban Living is very poppy, and the instrumental band I was in was really—there are no lyrics, so there is no pop ambition to it. It was a really good time. I really liked doing it, but I don’t know.

What were your main influences to getting into more dreampop and shoegaze stuff?

I’ve always been a huge fan of, like, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth and stuff. Even when I was in that post-rock band I would try to incorporate those kinds of sounds into our songs. But then I really got into, like, ’80s music. I got really into Prince. I started listening to a lot of Prince in my downtime, and I think there are a lot of Prince-y kind of tones, especially in the drums on the Cooper’s Dream EP. I just remember being in the studio and telling my engineer I want the drums to sound like “Purple Rain.”

That makes sense because a lot of dreampop bands seem twee by nature, and you seem to deliberately avoid that.

Yeah, I think a lot of dreampop bands always reference, like, the Cocteau Twins, and stuff like that. And I do think that’s a really big influence—I love the Cocteau Twins. But I’m really more into that cheesy ’80s stuff. Like, I listen to Exposé some times, and, just that really synth-y, dance-y stuff—just a different perspective from that same era, I suppose.

I was going to ask about non-musical influences too. Your video for “I Don’t Fit In” has pretty direct ties to Stanley Kubrick, your Bandcamp page mentions you were watching “Twin Peaks” while recording Cooper’s Dream, and even you mentioned Prince, who was really influential with videos as well.

When I really sat down and wrote that record, I had just come back from being on tour with my friend’s band, We Are Trees. We went on this month-long tour, and I didn’t quit my job to do it, but I went on hiatus at my job. And it was the summer, so when we came back I had a whole month with, like, nothing. No job, no school, I was living on my own. I was kind of broke because I had just gone on that tour, and I’d just gotten Netflix. A hurricane rolled through Virginia, so me and a few friends had this hurricane party and we watched Netflix. And we wound up watching, like, seven or eight episodes of “Twin Peaks.” And I don’t know, I just got really infatuated with it, and I finished it so fast. People just get really infatuated with TV shows, and I think it can set the tone for a record, maybe. But I try not to think it super-influenced it, it just was something that I was really heavily into at the time that played a little part in the tone of the songs and stuff; just dance-y, dark, sad lyrics and stuff.



And what about your name. Do you live in a suburb? Or did you grow up in one?

Oh yeah, totally. I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is right at the southeast tip of Virginia. It’s a beach town, but when you get out of the beach area it’s just totally the suburbs. Talking, like, a Taco Bell on every corner and one big road that goes throughout the entire city, and nobody rides bikes or walks outside of the beach, they just drive. I recently just moved back in with my parents who live in this suburban neighborhood, and that’s sort of where I derived the name from. The biggest problem in that neighborhood is we have these neighbors who always lose their dogs, so I have to go out and help them find their dogs. Just these suburban melancholy problems.

I try to not let anything like a TV show influence me, but I guess it kind of happens. I’m more informed by, like, the interactions with people, and the people who float in and out of my life, and friends. Just melancholy problems too, I guess, so in that way I guess it goes along with this.

Virginia Beach sounds a lot like where I grow up, and my siblings and I all took the first opportunity we could to get out of there. Are you still living there? Do you have plans to move?

Yeah, for sure. I’m finishing my last semester of college now and after that I’m going to set my eyes on a different place, for sure. Definitely relocate the Suburban Living project. That’s a big goal for me, to kind of get out of here. It’s just so hard because it’s so easy here, and I think that happens to me and a lot of my friends is we just get complacent here because it’s so easy. And if you’re in a band—I’ve never played shows in this area, but it’s so easy to tour out of this area because it’s right on the east coast. So that’s one thing that’s, like—it’s easy to do it here, but I feel like a lot of my friends, including myself, could accomplish way more if we were in a different city and had more opportunities.

What’s the songwriting process like for you? Is it just one person or has it evolved into a larger project now?

It’s just me. Songwriting is just the normal stuff. I start with a melody or something and build on that. As of recently, I’ve started recording this full-length, and I’m incorporating actual, real drums. Everything on Cooper’s Dream is a drum machine that I did by myself because I don’t know how to play drums. It’s the only instrument I get behind that I’m, like, not good. At all. But I’ve started incorporating live drums in this record, so I’m gettinga live drummer in the studio, a friend of mine, to come in and lay down these tracks. So it’s different from before when I would just go in the studio, bring in my samples, load them in and then start tracking instruments. But now tracking drums and getting the sound that I want is kind of a feat, but it’s fun. I enjoy it.

Can you talk more about this LP? Is it going to be different from Cooper’s Dream?

It’s definitely going to have the saem dream-y vibe to it. I feel like I want to do somethign a little bit different with it, though. I feel like the abundance of dream-pop bands right now is kind of huge. Which is cool because it’s a cool genre, I like it. It’s everything I like about music. So I do want to keep that same sound, but I don’t want to make the same record. I don’t want to make something that you could just add to Cooper’s Dream to make a full-length. I think that’s why I’m working with real drums now, just trying to have it a little more mature-sounding.

Something that sounds a little more like Prince, maybe.

Yeah [laughs].
- Prefix Magazine

A-Z list of artists to watch @ CMJ 2012 - Rollo & Grady

Coming in at #18 - Rollo & Grady

What’s in a name? Cooper’s Dream is a five-track EP by Virginia-based Wesley Bunch, a.k.a. Suburban Living. For Twin Peaks aficionados, the title immediately conjures up images of Special Agent Dale Cooper, visitations from a ghostly giant, a backwards-speaking dwarf, and those darn red drapes. Bunch says he penned the songs while out of work and overdosing on Twin Peaks even though he maintains the seminal David Lynch soap didn’t directly inspire his work. Maybe it’s just Bunch’s way of remembering where he was at the time.
Nevertheless, the record shares much of its titular reference point’s dreamlike quality. The opening track, “I Don’t Fit In”, smacks you right between the eyes with a hail of layered 80's guitar and hazy synths over a crisp, insistent drumbeat. While lyrically not adding a great deal to the world’s lexicon, Bunch’s vocals echoing within the mix transform the song into a summer anthem.

It’s tough to ask the rest of the EP to measure up, but Bunch tries. The central riff in “Give Up” trades in Altered Images’ UK ’80s combo; despite honeyed choral assistance from Emily Hill, the song lacks Clare Grogan’s shrill pubescent vocals. “Cooper’s Dream”, which completes the collection, benefits from a potent melody– Bunch sings and plays all the instruments on the record, apart from Sarah Kingsley’s cello on the title track– but like the opening track, the vocals merge too much into the mix to make their point until the very end.

In between there’s a short, ambient instrumental called “Prom” that recalls the work of Ryuchi Sakamoto for one, whose melancholy tone suggests Bunch may not have had a date, while “Float In Clouds” shimmers through a haze of treble guitar and synth-effected vocals storming to a crescendo. It’s a promising EP, but don’t miss “I Don’t Fit In” before summer’s out.

Essential Tracks: “I Don’t Fit In”
- Consequence of Sound

We’re really excited to premiere an exclusive stream of Suburban Living’s sophomore EP, Cooper’s Dream, which officially comes out next Tuesday, July 31st. Suburban Living is Norfolk, Virginia native and multi-instrumentalist Wesley Bunch, whose ambient and melodic tunes blend 80’s new wave with reverb-drenched lo-fi guitar. The sonic template is heavy on synth but light on the ears, providing listeners with a dose of chill to contrast the seasonal heat. Contrary to its title, new single “I Don’t Fit In” would fit in nicely on just about any summer mixtape. You can check out the band live in Brooklyn at Spike Hill on August 9th.
- The Wild Honey Pie

Fresh on the streets is Suburban Living’s latest appropriately titled EP Cooper’s Dream. Drenched in a lo-fi shimmering daze of guitar pop heaven, this album is a full-out homage to that sonic 80’s guitar sound. The vocal work of Wesley Bunch acts more like a topical accessory to his layered synths and guitar riffs, creating the perfect level of chilled-out consistency. Grab your copy of the album here.
- New Dust

You guys seemed to love the first single I posted from these Virginian indie upstarts led by songwriter Wesley Bunch called “Give Up”. This is the next effort puts a cheery mod sound on a dire outsider’s lament that Morrissey could be proud of.

Look for the Cooper’s Dream EP out July 31st.
- YVYNYL

Here’s the bouncy new dreampop track “I Don’t Fit In” from Norfolk’s Suburban Living. You’ve got vocals fronted by Wesley Bunch drizzled in a generous amount of reverb while catchy guitar melodies drive through body-moving, head-nodding beats. It’s the epitome of guitar-driven pop and it’s some of the best we’ve heard. You can grab this track over at Soundcloud and find it on the forthcoming EP Cooper’s Dream set to drop July 31 via Bandcamp.
- Hearing Gold

Suburban Living, otherwise known as Norfolk Virginia’s Wesley Bunch, drops a nifty little five-song collection today that’s affectionately known as “Cooper’s Dream” EP.

This tidy little effort features “echoing vocals, 80’s styled guitar riffs and glimmering synths”. Imagine gliding through the clouds in a silent jetliner, and you’ve got Suburban Living.

Stream “I Don’t Fit In” below.
- New Music Michael

Suburban Living unveiled a jangly dream pop jam this week with the suitably introverted title of ‘I Don’t Fit It’ *kicks at dust*. This one pays homage to 80s new wavers with a head nod towards The Cure. Pre-orders are available now for the upcoming EP ‘Cooper’s Dream‘, out July 31. The Norfolk, Virginia based outfit is lead by songwriter Wesley Bunch who released a number of bedroom pop tunes last year. Wesley has since recruited the talents of Elliott Malvas, Monica Bjorkland and Kenny Bunting to bring Suburban Living to the stage.
- Sounds Better With Reverb

So as I was saying yesterday with that sweet Summerays track, it’s never too late to sneak in a few more summer tunes before the season is over. This summer themed tune “I Don’t Fit In” comes from Norfolk based group Suburban Living. It feels like a great song to have on a playlist as you head out on the road westwards for your last few days of vacation. You may remember that I posted up another new song from the band “Float in Clouds” earlier this summer. Once again, a new EP entitled Cooper’s Dream will be available on July 31st.
- Austin Town Hall

Virginia dream-pop solist Suburban Living - aka Wesley Bunch - releases his latest EP, Cooper's
Dream, next week, and he's found a perfect teaser for it in "I Don't Fit In".

The track kind of teeters along a line that has crafted so perfectly well of late by Zachary Cole Smith's DIIV. Here, the multitude of driven guitars, echoing vocals and an undeniable amount of affectionate zeal make for a rather accomplished overall sound. It's Bunch's best work to date, one could say.

If you like what you hear you can order the said EP at the SL Bandcamp for a July 31st release.
- One For The People

Here’s the catchy new track from Norfolk’s dream-pop connoisseur Suburban Living (a.k.a. Wesley Bunch) titled “Float in Clouds”. Weaving together blissful guitar-pop melodies, this track is as easy to enjoy as those perfectly warm yet breezy days. The guitar-pop jam can be found off of his upcoming EP so be sure to keep an eye out for that. In the meantime you can grab this one over at Soundcloud and find more goods over at his Bandcamp.
- Hearing Gold

Time to gobble up some fresh new wave leaning dream pop from Suburban Living! ‘Float In Clouds’ was premiered on The Wild Honey Pie this week, it’s taken from Suburban Living’s forthcoming sophmore EP (free single download). Virginian multi-instrumentalist Wesley Bunch is the man behind the project, catch him live on the east coast next week (details here).
- Sounds Better With Reverb

Suburban Living - Give Up

It’s not often that I blog a song and then subsequently the video for the same song, but you guys really seemed to love Wesley Bunch’s brand of new wave pop, and this Twin Peaks-inspired piece by director Abe Vilchez-Moran is totally worth the revisit. And yes, I think I just blogged two creepy, murder-inspired videos in a row…

The single’s up on Bndcmp now. - YVYNYL

This generation holds a huge responsibility when it comes to rejuvenating the creativity and originality in the arts and music. The indie genre used to be a kind of music genre where you had to dig deep to find the best bands with the greatest, original sound. Usually, those bands would be forever forced to play dirty, grungy underground basements. To most musicians now, it's all about making it; fame, fortune, and better looking groupies. But in most situations, those underground bands who craved attention and started crapping out bullshit albums never lasted (what ever happened to Kings Of Leon)?

Luckily, those old-school underground musicians still exist, it's just takes a stronger shovel to dig for em. I've come across a gold mine; Suburban Living. Mr. Wesley Bunch from Virginia exhibits almost unimaginable energetic vibes in his song "Float In Clouds." Omg. Layna Cloud, "Float In Clouds." I just noticed that and it excites me. This is officially my summer jam, next to "Daggering" by RDX.

Wesley is a musical mastermind. This one-man-band proves that he is well-rounded and knowledgeable in most instruments. Not to mention, his dreamy, muffled voice is enchanting. His sound reminds me a bit of The Cure, but obviously more modern. "Float In Clouds" literally makes you feel like you're falling through white, fluffy, wispy clouds with a Pina Colada in hand. I feel like the song would be on every college girl's mixed CD.

Suburban Living offers deep dreams, smooth, relaxed ocean breezes, and button kisses from a lover on a breathtaking summer's night. This is probably the best use of a synthesizer I've heard in indie music.

Wesley is offering his new EP "Cooper's Dream" as a cassette, which is really rad for people who still have cassette players at home or in their cars. Another really cool aspect of Wesley's "Cooper's Dream" EP is that the cover is actually a finger painting made by baby otters at the Norfolk Zoo, which is unquestionably admirable and also puts him at a creative advantage next to other underground musicians.

Suburban Living, you just got the official "JAM" stamp from Layna Cloud. Keep going, you're lovely.

Check out "Float In Clouds" on Suburban Living's SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/suburbanliving

"Cooper's Dream" EP will be available on July 31st, 2012.
Here is the tracklist:

1. I Don’t Fit In

2. Give Up

3. Prom

4. Float In Clouds

5. Cooper’s Dream - Rock NYC Live & Recorded

"I’m really feeling this new song “Float in Coulds” by Norfolk, VA based group Suburban Living. The band is the name used by 20 year old Wesley Bunch who has been creating his style of shimmery pop since he was old enough to vote. If you dig this awesome song, a brand new EP entitled Cooper’s Dreams will be available from the group July 31st. Stay tuned." - Austin Town Hall

"...these babies have all the right stuff" - Earmilk

..."it's really fucking good" - YVYNYL

“Float in Clouds”, the piping hot, fresh single from Suburban Living, is a smart distillation of hipster blasé. The band’s singer and songwriter, Wesley Bunch, combines new wave sheen with a lo-fi garage grime that’s pretty addicting. Bunch says “I’m just another white boy living in Norfolk, Virginia making music on my own dime trying to make dreams come true and stuff.” Indeed, Bunch’s voice is dreamily distant in this second single, slated to be released with the band’s upcoming EP. Fans of Caged Animals should take heed.
- The Wild Honey Pie

Featured on the 112 Artists To Watch At SXSW 2012 - Rollo & Grady

Artist to watch - Rollo & Grady

Still waiting for the reverse nostalgia DNA engineering results to come back from the lab on this video from Suburban Living to determine if its an example of remembering the 80s, via post-punk guitars, remembering the 90s, via VHS tape visual aesthetic, or remembering the 2k10s, via remembering dream pop, but in the meantime we’re going to actually go ahead and do something crazy and unexpected here: actually enjoy the song minus the cultural context. It’s pretty hard not to.

We asked Wesley Bunch, the Virgina Beach native behind the one man project, to explain a little more about the recording of the song and the filming of the video in his depressing home town. If it weren’t for boring hometowns, by the way, we’d never have ended up with any quality music at all. Keep that in mind next time you’re complaining about how there’s nothing to do in your specific geographic region kids.

“I wrote this song almost immediately after finishing the “Cooper’s Dream” EP. I remember writing and being stuck on the chorus melody, and for some reason the lyrics just came out naturally. I never put a lot of emphasis on lyrics in my songs and most of the time it’s just scrambled poetry about love and displacement. In the studio, I wanted to try something different with ‘Always Eyes’ and instead of working with a drum machine like I always do, I brought in my friend Elliott Malvas to record the drums I had written out. It was cool to work with a real drum set in the studio, it brought warmer tones to the song and made it a little more alive.”

“Being the only person in your band can be incredibly freeing but also drain a lot of your funds. I definitely wanted to make a video for this song, but didn’t have the resources for a big production video. This however, kind of inspired me, and I got that ‘DIY’ feeling that you used to get when you were a kid and built forts in you living room because you were sick of all your toys and mom wouldn’t buy more. I had acquired all these VHS camcorders for free, and spring weather finally hit Virginia Beach. It only made sense to get my girlfriend and I to shoot some scenes on VHS. I’ve always loved the way VHS looks, sounds, and the feeling of popping in a tape. Truly a staple of my generation. This video is just a cool collage into our bleak hometown in Virginia Beach filled with big paved roads, Dairy Queen, a 7-11 on every block, and an awesome park next to my house.” - Bullett Media

If you knew nothing of the band Suburban Living, there is no doubt that you'd think they were British. And maybe had timewarped themselves into the future from the late 80s. Maybe if you closed your eyes tight enough, you could be convinced to believe Suburban Living was a Morrissey side project, one where he stops whining about politics and nonvegans, and gets back to the real truth of pain.

But you'd be wrong about everything, probably not for the first time. Suburban Living is the project of Virginia's Wesley Bunch and with the release of the instrumentalist's 7″, Always Eyes, on Dialog Records, we are confronted with influences so present they might as well be playing ghost synths alongside Bunch. The three-tracked release is strong in its poppy sheen, its new wave filter, and especially in its sincerity—showing us the deep, hollowness of loving too hard and feeling too much. These songs could easily go on a mixtape for your unrequited love or on a playlist for your early summer BBQ. The 7″ is available for preorder at Dialog Records here, and you can stream the namesake track, “Always Eyes”, below. Catch Suburban Living on tour at these few VA dates below, with a New York date/venue TBA.



May
14 The Belmont – Norfolk, VA
18 Winston's Cafe – Chesapeake, VA
June
8 Speakertree Records – Lynchburg, VA
15 Horseshoes & Hand Grenades – Fredreicksburg, VA
28 That's How I Beat Shaq – Virginia Beach, VA - Impose Magazine

What do you get when you take shoegaze and give a new wave vibe? The answer is simple, Nu Gaze. Virginia- based artist Suburban Living has this new genre locked in. Completely written and performed by Wesley Bunch, he definitely knows how to create some vibes that you’ll enjoy getting lost in.

If you’re a ’90s kid you’ll easily find some nostalgic looks in SL’s new video for their song “Video Love.” Delivering complimenting visuals to the accompany the trance-y dream like guitar that echoes throughout the track.

With a full EP up on Bandcamp, be sure to check them on Facebook HERE and Twitter HERE. - Nylon Guys

Last year, Norfolk, VA’s Wesley Bunch, aka Suburban Living, released the excellent Cooper’s Dream EP drenched in its nostalgia and heavy reverb. Today, he is following-up that release with the Always Eyes 7″ via Dialog Records. On the 7″, we get more of that reverb and sound that will draw your mind to times past. Last month, we heard the a-side “Always Eyes”, now listen and download the just as engaging, shimmering b-side “Video Love” below. - My Old Kentucky Blog