Sandmoon ‘While We Watch the Horizon Sink’
“So much was going on in the world and in Lebanon, I felt the urge to express the emotions I was going through, in a cathartic way.” — Sandra Arslanian (composer/lead singer of Sandmoon)
While We Watch the Horizon Sink reflects upon the world around us, retrospectively visiting the past years filled with intense turmoil, political unrest, and dystopian surreality. Taking shape in a picturesque, epic indie rock soundscape, Sandmoon tackles topics that are relevant and urgent to our life and the world around. From individuality, protest, spirituality, to emotional catharsis, they take us on an unusual ride that results in conscious visualization and emotional awakening.
“Bearable Lightness of Being” sees Sandra Arslanian as an expressive and unorthodox singer in the pursuit of personal freedom and artistic liberation, one not unlike PJ Harvey. Delving deeper into the indie and rocker side of Sandmoon, the track’s angsty, punching lyrics revolves around the refusal to be defined and calls upon understanding for those stands outside one-fits-for-all normality.
“Spirals in my Head” finds Sandmoon swirling into a Radiohead-esque introspective sophistication in combination with a hypnotic melancholia and sonic experimentation. The track features a stumble-and-fall rhythm and a reverberant, jangling guitar. While its poetic lyrics paint a painfully stirring image that reflects upon our world in flames—“The city's in flames; And our hearts are braised; No one is listening no; No one cares.”
“Let’s Start a War” evokes a sense of spine-tingling, dystopian eeriness while being picturesque and deeply emotive. A kind of flowing, floral sensitivity, on the other hand, is so in tune with Sandmoon’s collective aesthetic. “Let’s start a war on love” calls for action. The protest song, unlike many in the punk rock genre, takes on the direction of portraying a kind of silent determination that really gets under your skin.
It’s hard to ignore the filmic impression that runs deep in Sandmoon’s sound, which can be observed throughout the album. Though darker and more serious in tone and tackling many humanly sensible subject, “Wake Up” concludes While We Watch the Horizon Sink with an electrifying, spiritually uplifting omen that sparks of change and positivity.
Here, we chatted with singer and songwriter Sandra Arslanian on the creation of While We Watch the Horizon Sink, in which she shares the behind-the-song story of “Where We Go From Here” and the challenges she faced producing the album.
Punk Head: I really like the mood and expression of While We Watch the Horizon Sink. Is there a specific ethos or aesthetic that you aim to create?
Sandra Arslanian: Thank you! I believe the album is very much aligned, consistent in its sound and meaning. There is a story that binds them together, the emotions of the past two “tornado” years. It’s quite surprising, novel; different yet universal.
PH: What are some challenges that you faced creating this album?
Sandra: Finding the right producer for it, in Lebanon. That took some time but once we started working with Marwan Tohme (Tunefork Studio), it all flowed nicely.
Another challenge was that the recording stretched over a few months because some of us, including myself traveled during the process.
Finally and essentially, the irregular provision of electricity in Lebanon which dictated our schedule and challenged the very act of recording. I remember finishing the last recording of the album, which was the backing vocals of While We Watch the Horizon Sink, and the electricity went off as I sang the last line. Quite ironic, but a nice story to tell.
PH: What stimulated the creation of this album? Can you tell us the background/environment that birthed the seed of the album and how everything come together?
Sandra: After releasing Put a Gun/Commotion in 2020, I didn’t have the intention to record any new album. However, one thing led to another, songs started to take shape. So much was going on in the world and in Lebanon, I felt the urge to express the emotions I was going through, in a cathartic way.
Releasing While We Watch the Horizon Sink feels like a genuine “release”—a release of emotions bottled up during the past two intense, tumultuous years. These are quite uncertain times and While We Watch the Horizon Sink echoes the state of the world, yet looks beyond the immediateness and goes into the essence of things.
PH: Is there a song that you feels strongly about from this record? Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Sandra: I usually feel strongly about every song. However, on this album, there is one song that does stand out. “Where Do We Go From Here.” The literal meaning of the song is to ask guidance to a trusted person, a mother, when you feel lost in this crazy world. The deeper one, however, touches the subject of dementia. I am seeking guidance from my mom, who has had Alzheimer’s for the past 12 years. How can someone suffering from dementia be of any help, let alone be a guide in tumultuous times when she herself is absolutely lost? Spending a lot of time with mom, entering her world where facts and figures don’t matter, where emotions are the center of everything, took me on a journey within and made those tumultuous times more bearable. She cannot guide us in the real world, but she can guide us to our hearts.
PH: Is there an underlying meaning behind the order of the songs?
Sandra: We wanted to end with “Wake Up,” which made sense symbolically but also sonically, as it ends on a positive, uplifting note.
And starting with “Bearable Lightness of Being” was fun and unexpected, as it is quite different from the rest of the songs but such a dynamic way to start.
The order of the songs in between just follows a sonic flow rather than a narrative one.
