The only break in the flow comes just before the last song, “Toppling.” There’s a need to tune the guitar, so what – until this point – is an uninterrupted, pell-mell rush through what seems to be seven other songs is briefly halted.
“Seems to be” as it’s hard to detect when one entry in the breathless half-hour set bleeds into the next. Individually, the songs have stop-start structures, handbrake turns from one time signature to another, and sudden outbursts of noise which abruptly give way to short passages which hint at a reflectiveness. Then, boom, off into the next swirling slab of squall. There is structure, rigorously so, but the Sunglasz Vendor approach to performance results in an immersion in the overall experience, rather than being able to take a standard song-by-song route through the live show. Uncompromising. A sign of confidence too.
“Break Glass” crops up early. It’s emblematic. Beginning in a fidgety, twitchy manner with rat-tat-tat drums and stabbing guitar, just-on a minute in it dives into math-rock twists and turns. The bass guitar bubbles. The laconic, sprechgesang-adjacent voice begins screaming. It ends with a from-nowhere guitar freak-out. In contrast, with its up-down, quiet-loud structure, set closer “Toppling” is initially more linear. But again, halfway in this time, there’s another guitar- and drum-driven storm which is anchored by the bass guitar. Another bout of yelling too.
Experiencing Sunglasz Vendor live brings to mind bands birthed by the US hardcore punk scene which stretched out to embrace the arty
It is wild, and impactful, and clearly the result of a methodical approach to both the band dynamic – where everything seamlessly interlocks – and amalgamating the disparate elements of each song. Sunglasz Vendor describe themselves as “a shrine to the rock music of a zillennial childhood; but too self-aware for its own good. Turn-of-the-millennium titans such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring, Foo Fighters, Sum 41, Blink‑182, and Linkin Park loom large in its DNA, though the result feels more like a reverse-engineered hybrid of second wave emo, post-hardcore, and indie-landfill relics.”
After seeing them, one part of this shouts loudest. Experiencing Sunglasz Vendor in the dingy, knowingly shabby basement of Shoreditch’s Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes – the name comes from that of the two former wholesalers the no-frills bar occupies – brings to mind Fugazi, Slint, Volcano Suns and smidges of Big Black. Bands birthed by the US hardcore punk scene which then stretched out to embrace the arty, the challenging.
Sunglasz Vendor are a Bristol-based trio. Break Glass, their second album, was released three weeks ago. It was preceded by April 2025’s Unwinding, which was issued on cassette in a now sold-out edition of 50. They formed in early 2023.
In the live setting, the band is Rafi Cohen (vocals, guitar), Finn Hodgson (drums) and Eve Rosenberg (bass). On Break Glass, Cohen plays bouzouki, keyboards, percussion, piano and pump organ too, while Hodgson also takes up an upright bass.
There is a background and context. Cohen, formerly in Bingo Fury, appeared on Jemima Coulter’s 2022 folk-inclined Grace After a Party album. Hodgson, who joined after Unwinding was completed, was in Grandchild before Sunglasz Vendor. Previously, Rosenberg was a member of Ex-Agent. As a chorale, members of fellow Bristol outfits Foot Foot, Minor Conflict, Pet Shimmers, and Robbie & Mona contributed to Unwinding. A similar mass gathering of Bristolians contribute vocals – and violin – to Break Glass. The first album was recorded in the basement of Bristol venue The Louisiana. Sunglasz Vendor are embedded in the city’s music scene.
They have also been expanding their world. There were late 2024 appearances supporting Kiran Leonard. This show is amongst series of dates tying in with release of Break Glass: Cardiff the day before; Manchester to follow. Sunglasz Vendor have previously played London a fair bit: at The George Tavern, The Lexington, The Sebright Arms, The Shacklewell Arms, The Social, Two Palms, The Windmill – a near-complete role call of the capital’s buzzy, edgier, happening venues. The sense of forward motion is complemented by choosing to record Break Glass at Third Space Studios in south-east London’s Hither Green with producer (and solo artist) Joseph Futak; he was also on Coulter’s Grace After a Party. (Intriguingly, Unwinding was made with William Carkeet, recently the music editor of the Yorgos Lanthimos film Bugonia).
What does all this add up to? It’s obvious the terrific Sunglasz Vendor are moving fast, that they want to be heard, want to be seen and that they want to expand their audience. What they are doing isn’t – without too much theoretical squinting – so far from what Hard-Fi did, and what Yard Act have done. Elements of the early Field Music are in there too. A billing with Brighton’s Plantoid would make sense. Sunglasz Vendor are more turbulent and more rock based than any of these though. Nonetheless, there is no reason why they can’t break through. Check them out before there is a need buy tickets weeks in advance.
