RUBBLEBUCKET - "SUN MACHINE" (2018)

Lizzi Trumbore
Apr 8, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Apr 15, 2020

“Sun Machine” is a diverse collection of unlikely pop jams that blend synth-heavy production with clever compositional ideas! Yum!

There are endless bands and artists that I’ve been meaning to get into, making excuses as to why I haven’t gotten around to digging into their discographies: “Oh I’m just focusing on my own songwriting right now” or “I have so much on my plate-” Lies. I’m just playing Animal Crossing and listening to the same old Bachelor podcasts over and over. BUT! It’s the days of the CO_VID quarantine, so what’s my excuse to not delve into an interesting and critically acclaimed album by a band that I already know I’m gonna like??

That band for me right now is energetic art-pop outfit Rubblebucket. For the longest time, I only knew one of their songs but it was my JAM and a part of my heavy rotation. I was infatuated with “Came Out of a Lady;” the bubbly and crafty horn lines stuck in my head and fit into this bright poppy context in a unique way that I don’t hear too often. So! I decided to give their most recent release “Sun Machine” (2018) a try.

“Sun Machine” is a diverse collection of unlikely pop jams that blend synth-heavy production with clever compositional ideas that stem from classical and jazz idioms. That is a tricky balance to pull off, but Rubblebucket blends those elements in a way that’s smart and not cliche (think the opposite of the random cheesy **baroque** intro in Chicago’s “Baby What a Big Surprise” that no one needed but it’s ok, i still stan).

The opening track, “What Life is,” starts with a warm chorale-esque line in the trumpet and saxophone, but as soon as the vocals come in you are hit with this gritty and too-cool-for-school vibe that’s reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders.

Lead vocalist and bari saxophonist Annakalmia “Kalmia” Traver is a crazy vocal chameleon + acrobat. On one verse she’ll be giving you delightfully lazy roller-rink diva vibes, and then tight clean bright pop vocals on the next. I’d totally let Kalmia slap me in the face if she wanted to and that’s all you need to know about how cool she is.

These opening lyrics are some of my favorite of the whole album: What you're feeling, what you know

What your life is, where to go

How you got there, what you look like

How the air tastes, how to sleep at night

In your bedroom, got a foldout

Nice full moon, calm your brain down

It's a ghost town temptation

With your sex dreams, a lot of masturbating I just love how the story is set up. These lyrics really make me assess how I’m feeling with every one of my senses. And goddamn, what a no-nonsense yet poetic way to say you’re horny and trying to find some sense of belonging amongst all the loneliness and hormones!

I’m obsessed with this blasé vocal delivery that is contradictory to the underlying meaning behind the lyric. We all like to act like loneliness is no big deal, as the lyrics and vocal delivery seem to portray initially, but in a way that is only thinly masking the reality that BEING LONELY SUCKS SOMETIMES AND CAN FEEL LIKE SHIT. THERE, I SAID IT!!! Okay enough about feelings. We’re only on track 1, and still my inner monologue is saying “oh Rubblebucket is a band of masterful and clever arranging/production/lyric-writing wizards okay cool got it, duly noted.”

(**I know I’ve written so much about just the first track, but there’s so much to say about it and I feel like this song really sets the tone for the rest of the album. Plus I have no boss or character limit so fuck it!! Okay moving on.)

“Lemonade” is a swanky n slow hotstuff anthem that really makes the use of tritone melody and harmonic motion actually HIP and COOL for once. The sultry jazzy trumpet could really cheese up this track, but it plays off in a subtle “tongue in cheek” way rather than turning into the Sex and the City soundtrack circa that one episode where Carrie cheats on Aidan with Big for the first time (u know the one). There are times where she gives me such a big Kimbra energy that I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t a Kimbra feature. It definitely wasn’t, but turns out that they have written together in the past and that does not surprise me.

The album starts out with such a blast of energy and creativity that I feel like the back half of the album gets slightly lost and a bit more stagnant, with the exception of “Annihilation Song.” The chorus melody and vocal harmonies are accentuated by a reverberative tambourine and it’s just gorgeous. The sparkly tambourine, harmonies, and honky bari-sax breakdown makes me think of some of my most favorite moments from Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album. There isn’t necessarily a direct Simon & Garfunkel influence here, but just based on the large impact that album has meant to me, I use it as a landmark to compare other music to. “Annihilation Song” could really be a nice folk song, but the flowing and hymn-like melody is backed by this puuuuulsing stripped down groove and really elevates the energy in a different way. It’s a folk song with a driiiive. I’m a fan.

The lowest point of the album in my opinion is “Sunlit Sparks (I Won’t Break You).” I feel like the synths, production, and use of autotune are distracting from what could otherwise be a nice tune if it were to be stripped down. A more natural version of this track would be able to showcase this song’s unique chord progression and odd phrasing in a much better light. This is the one song on this album where I feel like less could have been more here. But honestly, one miss out of ten full-length tracks is a pretty damn good batting average.

We close out “Sun Machine” with another bouncy roller rink jam in “Habit Creature.” It’s a cute and cheeky tune with glitzy synth and a grand as fuck building section. Oh also a fun little slide-whistle-type moment. Who doesn’t love a fun little slide-whistle-type moment?!

I had a blast delving into this album. The writing and performances are fun, poignant, and smart, and the instrumentation and synth choices create the perfect sonic soundscape for an unconventional dance party. Besides some occasional cliché disco-guitar comping that didn’t fit the mood and a few tracks that didn’t fully reach a true momentum in my opinion, “Sun Machine” is a masterfully arranged, produced, and performed record that I am gonna continue to dance to whilst naked.

Thanks Rubblebucket for being the coolest. 8.5 out of 10 bagels.