Sunny J. Baglow

Feature & Reviews Writer

United Kingdom

Hey there, I'm Sunny. I'm a journalist, writer, and artist currently occupying a dreary spot in the southwest of the UK, where I will forever recklessly consume media, culture and art until the day I shuffle off. Graduated with a BA in Media Communications from Bath Spa University in 2015.

I've been a web journalist for half a decade, writing across numerous fields surrounding popular culture, including music, technology, film and television. In this time I've amassed a ton of independent experience and skills in writing, interviewing, social media and event coverage. I have also pursued numerous creative projects in collaboration with media groups and institutions such as Somerset Film, Bath Road Studios and Somer Valley FM over my three years at university.

Contact me at [email protected], or drop me a line on Twitter at @sjbaglow.

Portfolio
Death Of An Absurdist
10/11/2015
Talking With Ghosts: A Séance With Ambersmoke

At the time of writing, Ambersmoke has little-to-no presence on the internet. They barely even glance at social media. Their identity is an esoteric mystery, obscured behind decaying photographs, or eschewed for re-appropriated images of the dearly departed. Instead, the being which we perceive to be "Ambersmoke" is a fragmented, disjointed phantom, whose form, consciousness,...

Drunken Werewolf
09/30/2015
INTERVIEW: Xiu Xiu

Xiu Xiu is a skull bursting between the thighs of a go-go dancer. Equal parts mesmerising, transcendent, and torturous, it is an eternal, plummeting, disjointed, spiralling death march into a swimming pool filled with jelly babies and prozac. The polarising nature of Xiu Xiu’s music has earned them a legion of devotees and celebrity admirers, such as Owen Pallett, Michael Gira, and now, David Lynch, thanks to their latest creative endeavour which re-imagines the music of Lynch’s cult...

Louder Than War
08/23/2015
Almost Over: An Introduction To The Rarities Of Elliott Smith

Almost Over: An Introduction To The Rarities Of Elliott Smith Elliott Smith would have been 46 this year. The Portland singer-songwriter left a decidedly brief span of albums in a rough decade of home and studio recordings, between the abrasive, bare Roman Candle and the sprawling posthumous collection From A Basement On A Hill but to really understand his work fans should look to some of his more obscure recordings says Sunny Baglow.

Drunken Werewolf
06/14/2015
Jagged, Absurdist & Feminist: The Protest Songs of Jenny Hval's 'Apocalypse, Girl'

“The world has a difficult time with a female auteur”, the phrase uttered by journalist Jessica Hopper which, in a recent interview with Björk, seemed to crystallise many of the issues which have plagued female artists for decades. Jenny Hval, Norwegian composer and singer-songwriter has continuously tackled these issues regarding femininity, gender and sexuality throughout her past output, but has now reached its most unequivocal with Apocalypse, Girl.

Drunken Werewolf
09/30/2015
MY FAVOURITE LABEL: Enemies List Home Recordings

n an era where many, if not all members of the independent music industry have fallen out of favour with commercialised majors exercising an ever-tightening grip on creativity and freedom within music, very few labels have actively revolted against these issues in the same idiosyncratic fashion which Enemies List Home Recordings has.

Death Of An Absurdist
10/08/2015
CROSS SECTIONS: The heartbreak and conflict behind Xiu Xiu's "A Promise".

The story of A Promise begins in a gay cruising spot in Hanoi. Jamie Stewart, whose eccentric extremes have propelled Californian experimentalists Xiu Xiu through all manner of indie trends over the past decade, found himself on vacation in Vietnam prior to the recording of the band's 2003 sophomore album.

Drunken Werewolf
08/20/2015
REVIEW: Beach House - Depression Cherry

Beach House - Depression Cherry Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, the Baltimore pair behind Beach House, are a duo endlessly celebrated within the canon of indie pop for their naturalistic approach to songwriting. Harnessing the gentlest aspects of washed-out guitars, elegant keys and very little else, Legrand and Scally's instrumentation is basic, but never lacking.

Drunken Werewolf
In Focus: Cacophonous Sarcophagus

Cacophonous Sarcophagus, also known as Adam Reid, is a rising promoter who specialises in the obscure, loud, rhythmic, atonal, repetitive, droning, percussive, regressive and experiential. I sat down with him to talk about his shows, and their new driving force in the Bristol underground.

Bristol 24/7
Review: Jesus and Mary Chain, O2 Academy Bristol

In a constantly shifting musical landscape that aims for progression and artistic triumph, very few bands in the indie scene aim to simply 'rock', and with that, the energetic spirit of rock n' roll risks dying out in indie music.

Death Of An Absurdist
05/01/2013
INTERVIEW: Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum

This feature was first published in Weightless in May 2013. Phil W. Elverum is the mastermind behind lo-fi folk projects Mount Eerie and The Microphones. Known for his uniquely stripped-down songwriting and instrumentation and tapestry-turning lyrical imagery, Elverum's works bridge the gap between the natural and the modern world with dense drone passages and somber...

Metal Blast!
07/06/2014
Review: We Have A Ghost - We Have A Ghost

The internet is a powerful tool for musicians. The advent of social networking has allowed indie musicians to take control over every facet of their image, their music and their promotion. One such...

milk magazine
12/21/2014
Five Unusual Christmas Records | milk magazine

The joyous celebration of Christmas is one that manifests itself in a multitude of ways: there's devotion, there's affection, there's emptying your wallet down the high street, but one of the most bloated and commercialised aspects of the holiday season comes in the feared, monstrous form of the Christmas record.