THE SUNDAYS, who
                         have not released a record
                         for five years, put out their
                         much-anticipated third
                         album, 'Static And Silence',
                         on September 22, preceded
                         by a single, 'Summertime',
                         on September 8. They also
                         plan to tour the UK, although dates have not yet been
                         confirmed. Their last album, 'Blind', the follow-up to their
                         1989 debut 'Reading, Writing And Arithmetic', was
                         released in 1992. But since then there has been very little
                         news of the band, fuelling rumours they had split. However,
                         guitarist Dave Gavurin and singer Harriet Wheeler revealed
                         that the reason for their lengthy absence was simply that
                         they'd become parents, and they wanted to take time out. 

                         Gavurin said: "We toured quite a lot on the back of our last
                         record, and that took up most of the year after that, and
                         then we just took a bit of time off. We had a bit more of a
                         social life again and basically did other things. Then we set
                         up a studio and had a child." The pair built their own studio
                         at their north London home and eventually started recording
                         their album about a year ago. About the experience of
                         recording the album, Gavurin said: "It was fucking
                         enjoyable, basically. It was just much more fun (recording
                         it at home), but probably a bit more time-consuming, you
                         know, learning how to use everything. It's been a very
                         different process. It is weird thinking, 'Yeah, this evening
                         we're really going to do some work,' then Billie (their little
                         girl) wakes up and that's the end of it." 

                         "But in a way, it makes things smoother because it does
                         keep you grounded," added Wheeler, "it stops you going
                         completely up your arse, in the musical, creative sense." The
                         pair said that recording the album at home had lead to a
                         more direct and "organic" sound. "We didn't really set out
                         on this album with a particular musical agenda," explained
                         Gavurin. "We don't sit down and say, 'Right, this time we're
                         going to do a jungle album'. That's fine if that's what you
                         want to do, but we just sit down and see what comes up.
                         This time round, we felt the songs needed words that had
                         some kind of an emotional impact to them, whereas the first
                         album was more jaunty and ironic," Wheeler said. "Forget
                         about what you've been listening to over the last five years.
                         Get ready for this! I'm sure Oasis are fucking scared,"
                         quipped Gavurin. 

                         Tracks on the album include the new single, plus
                         'Homeward', 'When I'm Thinking About You',
                         'Monochrome', 'Folk Song', 'I Can't Wait' and 'Another
                         Flavour'.