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Sun Zoom Spark Saturn Return DVD (2011)

SlowBurn Records is proud to announce that the Sun Zoom Spark Saturn Return DVD is now available.

By the end of 2003, Tucson psych-rock band, Sun Zoom Spark, decided to move away from playing gigs to begin work on a recording project, which later became known as ‘Saturn Return.’ This change in direction happened to coincide with bassist, Brian Maloney purchasing a hand-held video camera with which the band began to chronicle its various activities.

Being excited by the prospects of developing a music video, Sun Zoom Spark began filming with the help of a couple friends and a tripod. Inspired by The Who’s Kids Are Alright ‘Who Are You’ sequence, an idea emerged to film themselves recording the actual take for a song and then edit in footage of ‘keeper’ overdubs in a pleasing manner – a cost effective and entertaining way of producing a video. So in the end, you get a performance from the band and you get the finished product – the mixed and mastered song from the album.

Since the camera was there, the band went beyond this goal and filmed everything – eventually out of habit. The band filmed hours of footage – songs, improvisations, rehearsals, conversations were all recorded. By the time that the album was completed, keyboardist, Bobby Hepworth had left the band and moved to New York City, leading to the band’s dissolution in 2005. The footage took up residency on the shelf gathering dust for years.

In 2010, Sun Zoom Spark founding member Eric Johnson, got a new computer, some external hard drives and began the process of archiving footage. As a way to learn basic editing software like iMovie, Johnson decided to attempt to achieve the original goal of creating a music video from the old SZS footage.

During the process, it became clear that a larger project was beginning to take shape. Organizing the footage to follow the original running order of the songs on from the CD ‘Saturn Return,’ Johnson created ‘videos’ for 9 of the 13 songs from the album using various formats (i.e. live footage, studio footage, collage etc). In between the songs, Johnson creates little vignettes, showcasing the personalities of the band members, along with the often humorous DIY approach to recording that band used in all its recordings.

In the end, its not clear how to accurately sum up Sun Zoom Spark Saturn Return. Its a documentary of sorts. Its a film that narrates by doing rather than speaking. Its a look into the Tucson music scene from the prospective of the club, the party and the rehearsal space/recording studio. Its a portrait of a group of 30-something musicians that have a obvious love for being in a band and the act of creation itself. Its a home-movie of a band that neither the worst nor the greatest band from Tucson, having a great time playing music.

‘Saturn Return is a great album, played by musicians in top form, not all covered with the slick gloss of modern production, left so it sounds just right, coming from somewhere between the garage, the studio and the stars.’ - Aural Innovations (2005)