Photo by Gordon Nicholas

This article originally appeared in the August issue of AUX Magazine. Download and subscribe for iPhone and iPad in the App Store.

WHO: Nü Sensae (Andrea Lukic on vocals and bass, Daniel Pitout on drums, and Brody McKnight on guitar)

WHERE: Vancouver, BC

WHAT: The band’s ceaseless new album Sundowning, their first for Seattle indie stalwart Suicide Squeeze Records.

Nü Sensae have been one of Vancouver’s ‘weird’ punk scene’s main suppliers of shows and seven-inches since vocalist/bassist Andrea Lukic and drummer Daniel Pitout formed the core of the band in 2007, their work ethic perfectly complimenting the defining characteristics of their sound—focused, aggressive, and relentless. After more non-stop touring for 2010’s full-length, TV, Death, and the Devil, more EPs, and the addition of longtime friend Brody McKnight on guitar, the band got asked by Suicide Squeeze Records’ David Dickenson to release their second album.

“It was a different experience than usual because we had never really written an album where almost every song on it was written with the album in mind,” Pitout says. “[And] I think there was a certain amount of pressure in the sense that now what we do kind of matters to more than just us. That was a little daunting. But I think generally we try and not worry about that stuff and are more concerned with how we personally want it to turn out.”

Sundowning sounds immediately fuller, which isn’t only the result of a third member, but of the band’s dedication to playing live, as Pitout says, “every night for months straight.” Along the way, they’ve amassed more fans than they can keep up with these days, putting their DIY snail-mail fanclub mailouts on hold until they can get the costs covered.

“Having a physical connection, like mail, with the people that buy our stuff and come to our shows is really rad,” says Pitout. “I think that stuff has gotten really lost in the last 15 years or so. Because of the internet and blogs every band and performer can now have some weird, minute, faux-celebrity status and I think pretending to not have time for people that like what you do is a way to project that image but it kind of just seems boring to me. I like people to know that if they like what we do and think we are interesting then we wanna hang with them and send them interesting stuff.”

BONUS FACT: “We have a couple of split singles planned that should be out by the end of the year.” [Grab their new one with White Lung here.]