From Darkwave Origins to Resurgence: The Unexpected Rebirth of Pittsburgh's Lowsunday

After a quarter-century of silence, Pittsburgh’s Lowsunday has emerged from the ethereal mist with the "White EP," their first collection of all-new material since 1999. This creative second act was sparked by a deep-dive into their 90s origins via Projekt Records, whose recent 25th and 30th-anniversary reissues of "Elesgiem" and the seminal "Low Sunday Ghost Machine" served as the unexpected catalyst for the band's return. Operating now as a streamlined duo, Shane Sahene and Bobby Spell have distilled decades of sonic exploration into a "retro-futurist daydream" that bridges their raw, pedal-heavy roots with a polished, haunting clarity. By revisiting their past through these expansive remasters—complete with unreleased tracks and reinterpretations—the band has successfully ignited a new era, proving that their signature blend of arsenic-laced melodies and sweeping atmospheric landscapes remains a vital, evolving force.

1. This is your first collection of all-new material since 1999. What finally felt right about returning to LOWSUNDAY now, and what sparked the creation of the White EP?

Hello, thank you for doing this interview- we really appreciate the questions! Bobby and I had been exchanging ideas for years and had been waiting for the right time to come along. Right after one of our last conversations, We were approached by Sam Rosenthal at Projekt Records about releasing remasters of our early albums. This was the catalyst that got us into the studio again. 

So, in 2024 we got in the studio to do a 25th Anniversary of our 1999 album “Elesgiem”. For the remaster, we had included 3 bonus tracks and this is where we started reconnecting ideas , finishing old songs that had never been released as well as doing a remix of our song “Disassembly” – this release came out in September 2024.

As a follow up to this remaster - we went back even further to our debut album “low sunday ghost machine” and got in the studio to complete a 30th Anniversary Remaster which was just released in November of 2025. The sessions for this recording went even deeper into our catalog of songs that had never been completed, properly recorded or had appeared on other compilations but were never on a release of our own. we ended including 7 bonus tracks on this release. 

After all of the work we put into the remasters, a fire had been lit and we couldn’t wait to get more songs recorded- this whole process was so enjoyable and we were totally inspired - We fell into a very natural writing process which led to the idea of the White Ep - an EP is great for getting music out quickly but for us it has been a format that gives the songs the proper attention- a lesson we have learned from having some of the best songs we have ever written kind of remain hidden in longer format records. 

2. The White EP is described as both a reflection and a resurgence, bridging three decades of sound. How did you balance honouring your original sonic identity while allowing the music to evolve?

The evolution just sort of comes from life experience. Time had given us a deep creative drive and also we learned from our catalog of work of places we felt we got it right - We are more dialed into the things we like and better able to produce ourselves to get the sounds we want. better able to capture music that makes us feel how we want to feel and really, when we strip everything away we find that for every way we have changed , there are also many ways we haven’t. At the heart of it, we are the same people with the same sensibilities and we kind of can’t help but sound the way we do. 

3. LOWSUNDAY has always blurred the lines between post-punk, shoegaze, dreampop, and darkwave. How did those influences resurface or shift when writing and recording this new material?

It’s true. It’s not something we think about too much. We seem to have tastes and sensibilities , that no matter what we do , it will almost always fall somewhere into one of those worlds. We love the genres - so many good bands. As time goes on they become more clearly defined. In our formative years, we didn’t differentiate too much- we just loved what we loved and we wrote songs in the best way we could just working through ideas until they started to stand up - usually with a mountain of effects pedals and too much volume. 

4. Now operating as a duo, how has the dynamic between Shane Sahene and Bobby Spell shaped the creative process compared to earlier incarnations of the band?

The two of us have always worked very quickly and well together- it has always been easy for us to get on the same page- we are at a point now where we can often understand each other’s ideas without even hearing the whole thing - our common goal is to write the best songs we can but to also keep it fresh. We love to work on songs and finally reach the moment where it just totally clicks. It’s a thrilling pursuit! Our hearts are in the right place and that makes our writing environment safe to try ideas. To achieve the same results with a full band and everyone trying to contribute writing can be frustratingly slow and not always with the best outcome. The ego that exists among some musicians can blind a person from recognizing whether or not they should be a player or be a writer. We tend to think that the song ends up way more focused and on target with just the two of us writing. 

5. The lead single ‘Love Language’ arrives with a striking visual counterpart. How does the video expand or reinterpret the emotional core of the track, and why did it feel like the right introduction to this new chapter?

Thank you! Of course, when we finished this EP, we were very attached to all of the songs. We really looked to a trusted friend to get perspective, Shauna McLarnon at Shameless Promotion PR. As she would also be promoting this album, we let her pick the opening single. 

As for the video , we worked with an old friend, Jer Herring, who came up with very nice ideas. He captured the escapism of the song in showing that one can simply jump into the ocean and swim through colorful waters until they finally reach the moon – haha. But with almost everything we write , we try to include a sliver of space for optimism as much as we love to go dark – we always hope our listeners can place meaning where they need it . The simpler answer is that this song really did sonically tie together with our earlier releases in that it would be hard to put a date on the song - it could have easily been off of the first record.