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"Blood Tears" Track Listing: 1. Counting Stars
2. Cut Me Off
3. Harpoons
4. Electronic
5. Sinking Feeling
6. Let Go
7. Return The Favor
8. Shotgun Running
9. Sharp Teeth
10. Blood Tears Tour Dates: 8/01 - San Diego, CA - The Hideout
8/02 - Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory %
8/09 - Los Angeles, CA - Los Globos #
8/20 - Hollywood, CA - The Sayer's Club @
8/25 - Atlanta, GA - 529 #
8/26 - Raleigh, NC - King's Barcade #
8/27 - Richmond, VA - Strange Matter #
8/28 - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong #
8/29 - Baltimore, MD - The Metro Gallery #
8/30 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Bar #
8/31 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right #
% - Burger a-go-go w/ BEST COAST, BLEACHED
@ - w/ TANLINES # - w/ CROCODILES
SISU is Sandra Vu. The LA-based singer/multi-instrumentalist layers airy, harmony-laden vocals over dreamy synthwave, which has been described as “Smithsian shoegaze” (Village Voice) and “Nightmarish Beach House” (Santa Barbara Independent). Though she’s a seasoned drummer (Dum Dum Girls, The Raveonettes, Boredoms, Dirty Beaches), she’s stepped out from behind the kit to center stage for SISU, opening on tour dates for Cat Power, Marnie Stern, DIIV, and Metronomy.
"Blood Tears", SISU’s first full-length album builds on the recently released "Light Eyes" EP (April 2013), offering a bigger sound and a heightened sense of drama. As Vu explains, “These are pop songs with un-pop sounds.” SISU is defined by contrast and juxtaposition, and Vu finds a particular challenge and joy in combining opposites—soft and hard, loud and quiet, abrasive and smooth—to arrive at this aesthetic.
Writing songs for the album was catharsis for Vu, who used the process to overcome a period of disillusionment in between bands. “Blood Tears" is about relationships and the creative process—the necessity of pain for growth or creation,” she says. “Sometimes you have to kill a part of yourself to become stronger.” The new single “Harpoons” is a declaration of this power and independence found in divorcing yourself from the past. Both aggressive and sublime, it’s quintessential SISU. From this experience, Vu found her voice, naming it SISU, the Finnish word for “extreme perseverance.”
"Blood Tears" is the second release under the MONO PRISM umbrella—a collective of artists and springboard for music, film, and print projects. David South, SISU’s touring bassist, heads MONO PRISM, directed SISU’s first music video, “Two Thousand Hands,” and creates the band’s live visuals. It was these immersive audiovisual experiences that caught Cat Power’s attention, which lead to SISU supporting her on numerous dates earlier this year.
Vu wrote, played, and produced "Blood Tears" with bandmates Ryan Wood (co-producer), Nathanael Keefer (drums), and Lars Stalfors (Chelsea Wolfe, The Soft Pack, The Mars Volta) mixed the album. Julianna Medeiros (Dum Dum Girls) joins SISU live on synth and backup vocals.
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