After a busy year that saw the release of the excellent Same Blood EP – our favourite EP of 2024 that we’re still enjoying to this day – Sunflower Thieves return with ‘Overdose’. The duo’s first single of 2025 marks a new era. An era that leans a little more on guitars as well as bolder lyricism. Thrown in with their trademark harmonies, it’s a song that will have you gripped from all angles.
Amy Illingworth says about the track, “Overdose is navigating the unique shift in your relationship with your parents when you no longer live at home; missing them, disappointing them, knowing them so well and being able to be their friend too.”
Something that isn’t known beforehand – at least for me – is how the dynamic between you and your parents change when you fly the nest. It’s like you see them beyond simply being your parents, and you start to see them as people with lives, who do stuff and like things. It’s quite cool, and that evolution happens naturally. Sunflower Thieves document this wonderfully.
The topic helps the duo succeed with their intention to be bolder, as the lyrics are scattered with memories and statements, that hold a range of positive and negative emotions, and how they’ve shaped the relationships they have with their parents. These are told through harmonies that are – of course – gorgeous, and seem to weave within one another in a way we’ve not heard before. Instrumentally, we’re treated to a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, with the former introducing the song and filling the room with the traditional warmth we’ve come to expect. Towards its close, the guitars get a little grittier for a section that comes at you with riffs and melodies that switch things up for a moment, before reverting to a more balanced blend of the two.
‘Overdose’ is a fantastic song. It has the foundations of a Sunflower Thieves song, and its additions help define this new era brilliantly. The heavier interlude is one of those additions, yet seemed to fit in with the traditional parts really well. It leaves me excited to hear it utilised in future, and fingers crossed, that isn’t too far away.
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