It opens with a guitar riff jangly enough to shake the keys out of even Johnny Marr’s pockets, then singer Rafi Cohen’s voice hits deep and deadpan to the face: “trample on the feet of those / who can’t keep up with running through hooplas / it’s best to stress less but I can’t”.
Bristol-based Sunglasz Vendor’s latest single ‘Guilty Pleasure’ should itself be anything but a guilty pleasure.
Flipping its intensity (and volume) up and down throughout its short 3:15 runtime, the track has all the hooks of a soon-to-be-classic indie rock song, but isn’t shy to slice with its experimental edges. By the time its last brilliant line (“you could say it’s tasteless to spit on those who’ve never stuck / they’re not an envelope”) and final jangle give way to the beautifully cacophonous, distortion-full outro, you’ll be all in on whatever these vendors are peddling.
‘Sunglasz’ is just pronounced like ‘sunglass’, but the band have adopted the tried and true cool ‘z’ that has sadly been making fewer and fewer public appearances of late. A cool ‘z’ in 2026 tells you a little about the good health of the band’s sometimes self-deprecating humour, as well as, maybe, how likely they are to have owned a Motorola Razr back in the day.
‘Guilty Pleasure’ is the third single from the upcoming LP Break Glass, releasing on June 5. All share an artwork theme – the pedestrian man that lives in street signs and crossing lights having various existential crises within the circumference of the signs’ circle. And these Sunglasz Vendor signs should work in the same way as the regular kind do; get going across that road (to a Sunglasz gig), turn right here (to pre-order that album). And maybe spare a thought for the little guy that’s trapped in your nearest crossing light – he seems to be going through it right now. . .
