No lover can be perfect. But while relationships mature with each ugly hurdle that threatens to divide a couple, no runner can endure a romance that resembles an obstacle course. Sean Bryant doesn’t elaborate on who’s responsible for the silent feud depicted via words and pictures here in Big Brutus’ “Sunlight” because he doesn’t have to—the weight of blame wears both sides down. “Why you gotta start / then put my heart in a jar?” he says, even after admitting how easily he slipped from a careless retort to a heated dispute. The cozy sax and acoustic setting conveys the intimacy that our protagonists have worked so many years for, the titular sunshine that pierced through after every dark night in the past. (That’s also a typical stamp of quality from Big Brutus, who wear their Wilco hearts on their sleeves.)

Alas, those folks that kiss and make up in the video are actors. “Every time we say good night, there’s a small chance it is the last one,” Bryant sings, and that’s what a real marathon between strained lovers feels like—a parade of small victories under the ever-encroaching thunderhead.

Watch/listen above.

“Sunlight” is the first single from Big Brutus’ forthcoming LP Fun Times in Sadland. The album is the follow-up to 2017’s The Odd Willow, and, as the title suggests, was written over a period of immense personal struggle. “Sometimes we simply have to make the best of what’s around,” Bryant explains via email. “Even in death there is rebirth. Or as the first single puts it, ‘There are always rays of sunlight pouring down into the mourning.’ We can still find happiness when things are bleak, and find the strength of character necessary to push forward.”

Big Brutus will perform on Mon., Sept. 16 at the Georgia Theatre (details TBA) and on Thu., Sept. 26 at Smith’s Olde Bar alongside Michigander and Chase Huglin. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance or $13 DOS. 18+ to enter.

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