Sunny Mondays Steps Forward
Sunny Mondays is an alternative math rock band from Baltimore, Maryland. “Thread” is the trio’s leadoff single from their I Am the Needle and You Are the Thread EP. This guitar-driven song showcases the band’s ingenious arrangements and impeccable ensemble playing as they effortlessly shift tempos and rhythms across the song.
“Thread” portrays the narrator grappling with Kierkegaard-level feelings of powerlessness. From “conversations that get us nowhere” to “tossing in your bed, lying wide awake,” the lyrics vividly delineate stuckness and uncertainty. While the battle appears to occur on the relational front, “in the kitchen,” the song reveals that the true crisis is deep within. “The voices in my head tell me who I am.” Yet who or what is it that listens to those voices, interprets them, or synthesizes them? Kierkegaard would say that the relating of those voices (and the hypothetical internal entity responsible for that relating) is the self. Alas, the narrator in this song doesn’t have time for abstruse statements like that, as the pressure is simply too great: “hiding right there in plain sight, my brain is full of parasites.”
As an object, thread functions as a multifaceted metaphor in the song’s imagery. The thread could be a thin filament of connectedness caught in the center of the narrator’s forward motion. Or perhaps, as the narrator listens to contrasting voices and weaves between leaning in and leaning out, the thread appears to knit things together. Or maybe still the thread is the linear progression of the narrative, woven by the needle through the fabric of life. In any case, it’s a brilliant piece of simple imagery, bursting with meaning.
The anguished tone of the lyrics is reflected beautifully in the trio’s tight performance. The song has three distinct tempos, one of which is split into two grooves. The song’s appellative first section is in a moderate 6/8 feel, filled by guitar arpeggios, a pulsing bass guitar part, and wide, shimmering cymbal action on the drums. After this preamble, the trio masterfully changes to a driving 4/4 groove around 114 beats per minute. After a melodic lead guitar seals up the chord progression, there’s another sudden change, this time led by a strummed guitar with whole-note bass support. The drums come in at a blistering double time, revealing the new tempo to be nearly 200 bpm. This beat heightens the urgency behind the words “conversations that get us nowhere.” The band drops to a half time groove for the reflective lyrics of the next section at “you'd think I'd learn from the first mistake.” The change back to the previous 4/4 groove at 114 bpm is a highlight in the song; a terse drum fill, a second’s pause, and instantly the trio is right back together on the new groove.
“Thread” is built on an impassioned connection between lyrical content and musical context, brought to life by an awesome vocal performance. Each member of Sunny Mondays plays their instrument like an expert, and added together their sound is even more remarkable. It feels greater than the sum of its parts, like multiplication instead of addition. Or maybe exponents are involved? Whatever it is, they clearly know what they’re doing. After all, it’s math rock.
“Thread” was released on April 14, 2025.