lowsunday: low sunday ghost machine white ep (vinyl + digital)

Reviews

1. 

   Reviews Editor – June 15, 2026

   The Big Takeover

   This EP (aka White EP) slides off the remastered release of 1996’s Low Sunday Ghost Machine, bringing a five-song sonic snapshot of past, present, and future into focus. Ethereal yet driving darkwave romance bleeds though guitars like some oceanic shadow of yearning, as hints of The Cure float around the reverberations-but the vocals and synth edges propel the tracks in different direc-tions; a twist of Xymox, a pinch of Sisters of Mercy, a sprinkle of Cocteau Twins. It’s over-caffeinated dreampop, drifting punk rock; it’s a blurring, a blending, a new wave of its own. Post punked shoegaze pop wavers of the future unite! -Marcel Feldmar

2. 

   Reviews Editor – April 24, 2026

   From Nocturna

   Twenty-five years is a long time to stay “dead” but lowsunday’s return proves that some ghosts never truly rest. Once a cult fixture of the Pittsburgh scene, the duo-Shane Sahene and Bobby Spell-has traded their early Cure-inspired roots for a strikingly independent sound on the White EP. This isn’t just a nostalgic retread; it is a masterclass in atmospheric variety. While Nevver plunges the listener into a stoic, echo-drenched gothic abyss, the title track pivots toward a brighter, poppier clarity that showcases their range. Their brilliance peaks in the fatalistic gloom of Love Language, where minor-key chords subvert the sweetness of the title. It’s a sophisticated “fresh cell treatment” for their legacy, proving they haven’t lost their edge.

3. 

   Reviews Editor – January 20, 2026

   From That Eric Alper

   LOWSUNDAY Returns After Three Decades With New EP Low Sunday Ghost Machine – White

   Projekt Records artist Lowsunday has emerged with their latest record, the Low Sunday Ghost Machine – White EP, comprising all-new material for the first time since 1999, bridging three decades of a distinct sonic legacy. The Pittsburgh-based act, now a duo featuring Shane Sahene (vocals, guitar, synth, bass, drums) and Bobby Spell (bass, guitar, drums), is making a welcome return with their retro-futurist daydream, blurring the lines between post-punk, shoegaze, dreampop, and darkwave.

   Laced with a counter-balance of escapism, dreamlike sounds, drones, and feedback, the five-track EP features melodic hooks and classic song structures that explore emotional isolation. This confident return to form demonstrates a connection to the band’s history while showcasing a natural expansion into darker yet more expansive sonic territory, at times pushing atmospheres to the limits of noise and, at other times, into a dream pop air of deeper melancholia.

   This release follows the extended 30th anniversary remaster of their debut album, Low Sunday Ghost Machine, and the 25th anniversary remaster of their sophomore album, Elesgiem, both released via Projekt. The band has also shared the new video for “Love Language,” one of the five tracks available on the EP.

4. 

   Reviews Editor – January 20, 2026

   From Aural Aggravation

   Woah, wait. 1999 is more than 25 years ago? Logically, I can grasp this. But the fact that lowsunday have existed for some thirty years and have been dormant since 1999 meaning this is their first material in over twenty-five years is still difficult to comprehend. It does very much seem to be a more common occurrence in recent years that bands who existed comparatively briefly in the 80s or 90s are reuniting and returning with not only new material, but strong new material. It may be a rather different league, but the last thing I expected last year was a new album by the Jesus Lizard, and that my first gig of 2025 would involve David Yow flopping off the stage and directly onto my face in the opening thirty seconds of the set. Lowsunday formed in 1994: the year Kurt Cobain died, the year I started university, the year of my first job as a reviewer. It feels like another lifetime. It probably does for them, too.

   It may be pitched as a blurring post-punk, shoegaze, dreampop, and darkwave, and also as being for fan of The Chameleons, ACTORS, The Cure, Modern English, Clan of Xymox, Then Comes Silence, TRAITRS, but that thumping bass groove and pumping mechanoid drum beat on the EP’s opener, ‘Nevver’ is as trad goth as it comes. But the squalling noise that envelops the vocals – swathed in echo and low in the mix and taking direct cues from The Cure circa Faith and Pornography – is something else, a melding of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain with a dose of early New Order, Danse Society, and The Chameleons swirling around in there. And out of this swampy post-punk soup cocktail emerges a song of quality which really recreates that early eighties dark groove.

   ‘Call Silence’ goes straight for the sound of The Cure circa ’83, the singles on Japanese Whispers. And that’s cool: if you’re going to lift from early 80s gothy pop, you could certainly do far worse than ‘Let’s Go to Bed’ and early New Order as an inspiration – the bassline is pure Peter Hook. The production – and the strolling high-fretted bass work – really hits the spot, although it should be perhaps noted that they really do sound like a band born in 1982 rather than 1994. I guess they were retro before their time.

   Paired with chiming guitars, it’s the monster snare smash that really leads – and grabs the attention on ‘Soft Capture’, a song that unashamedly draws on Ride and My Bloody Valentine, and pairs that wash of sound and monotone vocals with a drum sound straight from 1984. The fall from favour of the dominant snare feels like a loss, but there’s no time for lamentations as they pile in with another claustrophobic read goth groover in the shape of ‘You Lost Yourself’. Here, I can’t help but feel the vibes of late 90s goth acts like Suspiria and the scene around that time. It’s well-executed, with fractal guitars tripping over pumping drum machines and throbbing bass.

   Closing with single cut ‘Love language’ sees the band strive for low-key anthemic with dreamiest and most overtly shoegaze song of the set. With the vocals drowning in a sea of reverb amidst a swirl of guitars, its detachment is its emotional power, perversely enough. And then, unexpectedly, it stops.

   Everything about the White EP is simply magnificent – the way the songs are composed and played, the production, the overall feel. And while retro is all the rage – and has been for a while now, since postmodernism has eaten itself and the entire world has collapsed into endless recycling and nostalgia for ersatz reimaginings of golden bygone times. But sometimes a release will appear, seemingly from nowhere, that radiates a rare authenticity, and reaches the part others don’t. Lowsunday’s White EP is one of those. -Christopher Nosnibor