ARTIST | JUNATIME

Junatime singer/songwriter, Heather Sommerhauser, has always been unrepentant in her love of ‘80s music in her own pastel synth-warmed, brightly wistful, melancholy pop. With a long-time dream to create the perfect nostalgic ‘80s inspired pop record, the only question was how!

So it came as an inspiring surprise that Chris Schlarb, owner and producer of Long Beach's BIG EGO studios and maker of many excellent but hardly ‘80s-leaning records, asked her to collaborate. Working sessions together, the pair discovered a shared love of ‘80s sounds held in high regard, like Peter Gabriel's “So”, and Kate Bush's “Hounds of Love.”

Heather and Chris began the recording process in October 2019, when Heather went into the studio to perform a stripped-down version of the songs. “Remember the Magic” [which became the album’s title and lead track] was the tune that instantaneously sparked Chris to start imagining the potential of this record, and the attention to detail that it deserved. The real magic, however, is in how the album shows Heather as a lyricist and songwriter capable of inspiring such a sprawling and cohesive album. This isn’t throwback referencing; its tapping into the same wishful, wistful sincerity of the best of the ‘80s, a time when shiny new gear made for sounds and songs that reflected and deflected the vulnerable energy and aesthetic chances its best artists took invigorating their work with bravely embraced contradictions of substance and style.

Appears on:

BIG007 | Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon | Namesake - choir vocals

BIG017 | Guma | A List of Sightings - synthesizer (1), lead and backing vocals (2,5,6)

BIG019 | Junatime | Remember The Magic - lead and backing vocals, synthesizer, piano

BIG020 | Psychic Temple | Plays Planet Caravan - synthesizer

BIG026 | Alicia Walter | Right Noise - backing vocals