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Bad Dream Jaguar

by Sun June

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1.
Eager 03:19
If you had one last cigarette, would you light it up? Give me some? Paid for the room in cash for one last chance. And you have my mother’s eyes. They remind me of how she sang along to late era Neil Young in a company car bound for Chicago. I imagined a wedding day. In the pale light of some gray mountain, you with a grinning bride. I know the look, I’ve made it many times. Calling some kind of car. Calling some, call it something. It’s too easy to fall in love. It’s too easy to wear it off. You were my kind of man that night: the Stoic Drunk, the True Believer, mettle met, low and eager, just enough to get it back. If you had one last cigarette would you light it up and give me some? It’s too easy to fall in love. It’s too easy.
2.
16 Riders 03:05
Soft, delicate, home in your arms like I could have been. 16 riders on a storm back then, a surefire way to get lost. Be honest. Be cool. Forget it. Fine, silhouette. Made up my mind cause you hadn’t yet. 16 riders on a storm I guess. Surefire way to get back. Be honest. Be cool. Forget it. It ain’t nothing but a wish it was. It ain’t nothing but a wish it was. Be honest. Be cool. Forget it.
3.
Mixed Bag 03:19
It’s a mixed bag. I was cursing out the season. You were searching for a reason to be mad. Babe I got plenty of them. It’s a bad night, keeping Texas on the timeline. Made it easy to be leaving you behind—but I got what I want and it’s just enough. There was an east coast, there was a farm road, there was a five lane highway home. And it’s all right. Heavy hitters on the sideline. I know every single fight we’ve ever had, but I got what I want and it’s not enough. There was a phone call, there was a hotel bedroom bar, there was a five lane high-way home. There was a tongue tied drag, a hope that kept you trying, a five lane highway home. Taking the only side here was a hope that kept you higher. Drawing a line, making a plea . Yeah there was a phone call, there was a car that kept on driving, there was a five lane highway home. I was a big mood baby. There’s a part of me that’s lying. There was a five lane highway home.
4.
Moon Ahead 04:18
There was a moment I was so young, running back like I couldn’t stop. I was right where my mother was: kinda drunk and making up for something. And for a moment I got caught. Better than that, I couldn’t shut up. Fighting all the ways I’m like my father every time you try to make it harder. I was young, it’s how it was and how it ended. And I could tell just how it felt by how you said it, with the moon ahead and the stars above me. And I was watching a shadow grow on the bedside before you woke up. I could see how you thought I was: acting and dumb and covering for someone. I was young. It’s how it was, it's how it ended. Gave it up but not enough to understand it, with the moon ahead and the stars above me. With the moon ahead and the stars. I want to know something. I want to be where you are. With the moon ahead, I should stop. I want to know something. I want to be where you are. I was young, it’s how it was and how it ended. And I could tell just what you meant by how you said it. I could touch what we had and what had happened. There it was: I was done, you wouldn’t let up. With the moon ahead and the stars above me, I want to know something. I want to be where you are.
5.
Ambitions 04:11
Well the cars run on empty, made your hallways bare. And the fall wasn’t seasonally too hot to stand. Made your call to be perfect with the same old mistakes. I don’t worry about the future, I make my own path. You were right. You were right to call me out. I know I want to get back now. I want to make you nervous. All the time we had run out, turned around again. And that part of me shattered. I should feel something. I heard you sigh like you wanted but it was too dark even then. I should worry about the future. I see you there. And you were right. You were right to call me out. I know I want to get back now. I want to make you nervous. I want to make you nervous. I want to make you nervous. You were right to call me out, to bring me down.
6.
Had the bad dream of the jaguar come to kill me. Yeah It’s been a while. Saw the red sun, low and constant. Everything I’ve done, easy violence. Had the bad dream of the jaguar. Still the same scene. It means everything to me. Saw the red sun, low and constant. Everything I’ve done: blue and violet. And I was drunk, staying out too late at the White Horse, made a couple bad choices. Somehow I made it to the other side of town, blacked out, made it to the morning. Had the bad dream of the jaguar come to kill me. Sure, it’s been a little while. Saw his red teeth gleam in the silence. Everything I done: easy violence.
7.
John Prine 02:53
I heard John Prine driving you home. I didn’t know what song it was, honest. I’m not messed up, I’m just falling asleep singing John Prine in the car. I had all night holding me back. I’ll have to forget what you said. And I’m not messed up, I’m just falling asleep. Me and John Prine in the car. Maybe I know that I’m holding on too late. Oh I know it’s hard for you to stand it any other way, because I know I'll be okay. I had been down in spite of myself. I saw the end come in and out finally. And I got messed up trying to leave you and John Prine in the car.
8.
Sage 04:42 video
I’ve been burning sage almost every night, just to try it. I go back to the house I grew up in when it’s late, just to cry. Oh it’s dark and I’m tired, hoping to calm down for a little while. Holding on the edges of the darker side of town, lighting up the Hudson just for us. It’s all changing pace. Not even sure anymore how I ended up here. Crying like a baby in the middle of the night, you and I. I’m holding on the edges of the darker side of town, lighting up the hudson just for us. Because it’s dark, and it’s late, and I’m tired. It’s dark, and it’s late, and I’m tired. Holding on the edges of the darker side of town, I’m lighting up the Hudson just for us, hoping to calm down for a little while.
9.
We were racing to Washington Square. And I can be the one or the one to drive, get us there on time. I remember what you said to me, cigarettes and listerine, on the bus back into the city: “you’ll know when I mean it.” Back when all the things to come hadn’t yet. We were two kids: broke, stupid, stumbling around in the dark. And I can be the one. I can be the future. I can try to take the shape. I remember what you said to me, licorice and wintergreen. Like a goddamn ghost of your mother, I know what you needed. Back when all the things to come hadn’t yet. Back when all that I had done didn’t seem so bad. And everything you wanted could be easy if you let it. You’re trying to get even when you’re trying to get better. Yeah everything you wanted could be easy if you let me in. You’re trying to get even when you’re trying to get better.
10.
Get Enough 03:23
I wish the Beatles would get back together. I’m in Texas now. And it’s easy for me to get lonely when I love someone. It’ll all come down in an instant. I can feel it. I can almost taste it. Drag me down with the weight. It’s a drug. Do you get enough? Yeah the Beatles getting back together. Got to give the people what they want! And I swear I can’t take it like I used to. Come on, tell the truth. If it all comes down to forgiveness, can I feel it? Can I hear you say it? Drag me down with the weight. It’s a drug. I never get enough. Even the sky looks menacing. I stayed awake for 48 hours. And it’s all I can do to be lonely. Me and you. When it all comes down to an ending, I can feel it. I can almost save it. Drag me down with the weight. It’s a drug. I never get enough. I think I’m losing my mind. It’s a study for a painting.
11.
Texas 03:55
I’m a demon. I’m a hellfire. You and me babe had a lot of fight. I’m a lot but I’m not that much. You’re a 5 am dream in an afterstorm. When the high beams hit, when I was still yours. You made laugh. You made me sad. How am I supposed to give you up? You keep breaking my heart. Texas. And the coffee burns slow and the colors burst, sinking low. Because I’m a mess but you’re already part of it. And how am I supposed to give you up now? How am I supposed to give you up now?You keep breaking my heart. Texas. If you wanna go now, I’m ready. It’s just the two of us, you and me, going heavy. Put a couple hundred down just to see. Because it’s you and me and you and me. How am I supposed to be now? You keep breaking my heart. Texas. You keep breaking my heart. How am I supposed to give you up?
12.
Lightning 02:48
I thought I saw lightning over those hills. That or two passing headlights. When I woke in the morning there was nothing on the ground. Late in the evening, all dolled up like some mid-level manager, I watched through the window and caught you crying. Back when you and I headed west for Los Angeles. I thought I saw lightning over those hills, or something I can’t quite explain. I woke in the middle of the night, saw you lying there. Back when you and I headed south to your parent’s house. It was nothing I saw coming. All night lights got the radio calling: “carry on, bury it, like your mother did”

about

The first two minutes of Sun June’s third album, Bad Dream Jaguar, is a reverie - Laura Colwell’s voice floats above a slow-burn, sparse synth, conjuring a tipsy loneliness, a hazy recollection, a disco ball spinning at the end of the night for an empty dance floor. Sun June’s music often feels like a shared memory – the details so close to the edge of a song that you can touch them. And as an Austin-based project, their music has also always felt strangely and specifically Texan – unhurried, long drives across an impossible expanse of openness, refractions shimmering off the pavement in the heat.

But on Bad Dream Jaguar, Sun June is unmoored. The backdrop of Texas is replaced by longing, by distance, by transience, and a quiet fear. The only sense of certainty comes from the murky past. It’s a dispatch from aging, when you’re in the strange in-between of yourself: there’s a clear image of the person you once were and the places you inhabited, generational curses and our families, but the future feels vast, unclear – and the present can’t help but slip through your fingers.

There’s a mix of hi-fi and lo-fi; some songs, like “Texas,” which the band had to learn at a breakneck pace ahead of their recording session, was recorded on a first take, live in the room, while “Eager” and “Easy Violence” feature early vocal takes from Colwell, the final songs built atop the demos. The latter track details staying up all night, being a menace to society, falling into bad patterns, but is followed by “John Prine,” a drumless, piano-based ballad, a mash of pedal steel manipulated to sound closer to synths.

Sun June’s records have always been deceptively airy sounding in the face of melancholia, belying its densely textured foundation in a sense of ease. The layers on Bad Dream Jaguar don’t tangle but they float, sheaths of divergent and luminescent sonics hanging together as the sun goes down, darkness seeping in. The record exists in the chasm between giving up and going all-in. And a flicker of quiet confidence powering through, a small hopeful glow at its core.

credits

released October 20, 2023

Sun June is
Laura Colwell - vocals, guitar, keys
Michael Bain - lead guitar
Stephen Salisbury - guitar, vocals
Santiago Dietche - guitar, vocals
Justin Harris - bass
Sarah Schultz - drums

Featuring
Alexis Marsh - woodwinds
Justin Morris - pedal steel
Marlon Hedrick - trumpet
Dan Duszynski - guitars, synths

All songs by Sun June
Produced by Sun June and Dan Duszynski
Recorded and mixed by Dan Duszynski at Dandy Sounds
Woodwinds arranged and recorded by Alexis Dyan Marsh
Tracks 3 and 9 recorded by Danny Reisch at Good Danny’s
Track 7 recorded by Alli Rogers at Betty’s
Additional engineering by Alli Rogers, Danny Reisch and Max Lorenzen, Chad Doriocourt at Spaghetti Studios, and Laura and Stephen at Big Baby
Mastered by Tess Greenham
Layout and Design by Jess Shoman
Cover painting by Susan LaMarca
Poster by Billie Buck

Special thanks to Tony, Layla, Max, Lance, Edna, Dane, Jeff, Tom, Susie, George, Eloy, Anita, Sam, Roux, our families, and our friends.

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Sun June Austin, Texas

~~~Bad Dream Jaguar~~~ out 10/20/23 on Run for Cover

On tour with Runnner in November... supporting Slaughter Beach, Dog in January

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