The Sundays

A Bristol band whose chiming, robust indie pop was elevated by the sweetly forceful voice of Harriet Wheeler, The Sundays released three albums in the ’90s before going on an extended hiatus. Formed when Wheeler met guitarist David Gavurin at university in the mid-’80s, The Sundays debuted with the 1989 single “Can’t Be Sure”, a restless depiction of desire as “a terrible thing”. Their debut album, Reading, Writing & Arithmetic, followed in 1990, with “Here’s Where the Story Ends”—a strummy yet bittersweet jangle-pop tune—becoming an international hit. In 1992, they returned with the single “Goodbye”, which showed the band embracing a darker sound; its B-side, a delicate cover of The Rolling Stones’ 1971 cut “Wild Horses”, would go on to become a cult favourite, and the album that followed, Blind, added dream-pop elements to the band’s still-potent hooks. Static & Silence, The Sundays’ third and final album, came out in 1997; the single “Summertime”, which grappled with ideals of romance, became one of their biggest songs. The Sundays went dark after that record’s release, although rumours of a reunion have persisted since a 2014 interview in which Wheeler and Gavurin mentioned the songs they had been writing.