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ON THE RISE
For indie-pop artist SUNSCREEN, making music is all about fun and positivity that he can share with his listeners. This is on full display in his most recent track “MOVE WITH ME,” which has a punky, surfer vibe that is destined to be on your mind all day.
In “MOVE WITH ME,” SUNSCREEN wanted to capture the power of a group of people dancing together on the dance floor. The track is off the Nashville based musician’s brand new album called EAT SUNSCREEN. This is the first album SUNSCREEN has produced himself, and he plays every instrument aside from a little bit of electric guitar.
“It has a full band sound, but it is a solo project,” he said. “It has a bright, poppy, kind of surf rock sound that I was really wanting to chase. I feel like I went akin to Beach Boys, meets Footloose, meets The Cha Cha Slide.”
He referred to The Cha Cha Slide, as “MOVE WITH ME” is highly instructional before and after the choruses. There is even an official dance that is shown by SUNSCREEN and a group of backup dancers in a new music video.
“One, two
(Alright, alright)
Three, four
(We’re gonna move together)
Five, six, seven, eight
(Like this- celebrate!)
The video stars SUNSCREEN, dressed in some funky heart shades, a crocheted bucket hat and a pink leisure suit. His backup dancers “move with him” and get down with the new dance move that goes with the uplifting, flashy song that would have anyone moving.
EAT SUNSCREEN is a 10-track album that starts off with “MOVE WITH ME,” setting the tone hard with a catchy, uplifting ear worm of a tune. He began working on the album in January, making a song a month. It’s designed to exude joy, with each track touching upon glories of life including themes like love, traveling, and nature.
When SUNSCREEN writes a song like “MOVE WITH ME” he said he tends to get into a tunnel vision state and “powers through.” The next thing he knows, a song is there and he’s ready to rock.
“I kind of black out,” he said. “I have a creative focal point at the end of this tunnel. That song, ‘MOVE WITH ME,’ it’s pretty traditional rock and roll with drums, bass and guitar leading the way. That’s how I write a lot. This album sets the stage with these core rock and roll elements. The grand overarching theme is in the back of my head, but I won’t start putting it to lyrics until I get an instrumental vibe going.”
SUNSCREEN’s drive to make music goes back to high school in Waco, Texas, when he was an admitted “choir nerd.” He fell in love with the instrument of the voice, and this led to him wanting to learn to write his own songs, and create something positive for the world to hear.
“The spark that made me start wanting to write songs myself was placed in me sometime around high school,” he said. “I joined choir in my freshman year to check off a fine arts credit. I ended up loving it and kind of found my voice. It kind of took over as the ‘sport’ in my life for those high school years.”
It all started on a whim, and at the time it was the golden era of 2010s indie-pop rock. He loved bands like Foster the People and Group Love, and said his sound tends top reflect those days and the music coming from it. For the past year he has played under the moniker of SUNSCREEN, and he feels like he has really found his sound.
“I feel like I am the sum of my parts, which are my influences," he said.
SUNSCREEN has a goal to “unashamedly spread joy into the world.” He strives to bottle the joy found in the simple pleasures of life, and send a “serotonin blast of goodness” into the ears of listeners.
“There is a very distinct sound to all of my songs and distinct messaging in all my lyrics,” SUNSCREEN said. “If I can spread some light and focus on some of the goodness we can experience, I feel like I’m doing my part. Not to ignore pain, but there is so much positive to hone in on.”
Be sure to check out “MOVE WITH ME,” off SUNSCREEN’s album titled EAT SUNSCREEN, available on all platforms.
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ON THE RISE
As they prepare to unveil their fourth album, ‘Joy In Short Moments’, The Snuts have spoken with NME about how stepping away from touring gave them the chance to reflect on some of life’s biggest challenges and bring greater attention to mental health.
Their first album since 2024’s upbeat ‘Millenials’ follows a rare break from the road over the past year. During that time, frontman Jack Cochrane also experienced a major change in his personal life as he welcomed his first child.
Along with getting used to fatherhood, the singer began thinking about deeper questions that the demanding touring lifestyle had previously left little room to consider. His reflections on growing up, dealing with loss and understanding what success really means gradually found their way into his writing, eventually shaping the direction of the band's more personal new album.
Fans were first introduced to the album earlier this year through ‘Summer Rain’, an emotional track exploring postnatal depression and the “fear of the future”. They later returned during the summer with the more hopeful ‘Defibrillator’, encouraging listeners to move beyond negative thoughts about themselves and find comfort in connecting with other people.
Speaking to NME about the creative shift behind their fourth record, Cochrane explained: “By taking a conscious break from life on the road and making records, my world opened up to let so much more of the real world in,” he said. “For the first time I was living then writing, not writing while trying to live.”
He also described how the change helped the band approach recording differently, adding: “It unlocked a new process that the band had been crying out for,” he continued. “The studio sessions were set up to allow us to be friends and not colleagues. Distraction and external pressures were completely eradicated from the recording environment, allowing us to trust our gut and have the conversations we needed to as humans.”
In the remainder of the interview, Cochrane also discusses his new role as an ambassador for mental health charity CALM and talks about starting a podcast designed to encourage more artists to speak honestly about their personal struggles.
NME: Hi Jack, congratulations on the new album. You’ve said that this record was about addressing the topics that you previously tried to hide from. What kinds of questions did you find yourself confronting?
Jack Cochrane: “I would say mainly, ‘What do I need to be happy?’… Eeek! It’s a big one I know, but having set out with the title ‘Joy In Short Moments’, I was able to spend my time searching for them and allow joy to do what joy does: compound and relieve the stresses of the modern world.”
That’s not the easiest question to find yourself confronting. Did you manage to find any answers along the way?
“Ultimately yes. With the completion of this record I was able to find a much happier healthier version of myself I had been so long yearning for.”
The album sees you deal with new themes, but musically we also see you return to the guitar-led sound from your early days. Did revisiting those roots make you notice how much has changed since you were starting out?
“For sure. We were able to remove any snobbery from the process. We’re no longer new kids on the block and with that came a new found ability to be really honest about the kind of noises we wanted to make and the type of artists that had originally inspired us.”
This album goes hand in hand with you becoming an ambassador for CALM and launching your own podcast dedicated to checking in with fellow artists. Why was it important for you to get involved in the conversation about mental health?
“I think conversations and role models are absolutely essential for young people. I wanted to have more and do my best to be one. Every song on this record was born out of unfiltered, open and honest conversation.”
From talking to people on your podcast, including Louis Tomlinson, and using your platform to open up this dialogue, is there anything interesting that you’ve noticed?
“I think that more often than not, young men are finding it difficult to combat the struggles they are facing in this modern world. To me it feels like there are less and less spaces and opportunities to have meaningful, healing conversations…”
Having had those conversations yourself and explored them on the album, it must be somewhat daunting to now put it out into the world. Is there something that you hope people take from it?
“I’d like people to feel less alone after hearing the record and the themes intertwined with it. I think music is more than just heartbreak and I hoped in the writing of this record I would be able to highlight some more universally relevant topics.”
You have your headline tour coming up next month. What can we expect from the shows?
“Big smiles and big sound all round! It will be the most self assured Snuts tour to date.”
‘Life In Short Moments’ is out now Happy Artist Records in partnership with Virgin Music Group. Their UK and Ireland tour kicks off next month with an opening night in Dundee. Visit here for tickets and check out a list of tour dates below.
NOVEMBER 2026
19 – Dundee, Livehouse
20 – Aberdeen, Beach Ballroom
21 – Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
23 – Dunfermline, Alhambra Theatre
24 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
26 – Sheffield, Octagon Centre
27 – Nottingham, Rock City
29 – Norwich, UEA
30 – Hull, City Hall
DECEMBER 2026
1 – Bristol, Prospect Hall
3 – Leeds, O2 Academy
4 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
8 – Birmingham, O2 Academy
9 – Portsmouth, Guildhall
10 – London, O2 Academy Brixton
JANUARY 2027
26 – Belfast, Limelight
27 – Galway, Róisín Dubh
28 – Dublin, Academy
