Sunstoney Is Casting Her Spell on Denver

Sunstoney only moved to Denver in the last year, but she's already found her community in the Mile High music scene.

The indie singer-songwriter, born Eman El Saied, had not one, but two sets at the Underground Music Showcase this year. Her first performance packed the Skylark, and many of those audience members made sure to catch her second, stripped-down set at Illegal Pete's the following day. She sang songs from her latest EP, The Mirror Is Calling, which was released in April — a mesmerizing collection of five shimmering tunes that muse on self-acceptance and friendship.

"I spent maybe ten months producing this project," Sunstoney says of the EP. "I had moved out here, and there was no safety net, no community, no friends. I wanted to make it more upbeat, an homage to learning to be with yourself and love yourself and hang out with yourself."
Sunstoney grew up around northern Virginia (NOVA), and attended college in Richmond, which NOVA natives refer to as the "Brooklyn" of the state: artists, hipsters, punks, Deadheads, hippies all flock there. But then there are the NOVA girls, too, stereotypical mall rats whose uniform consists of Hollister or True Religion jeans, North Face fleeces and Ugg boots — aka the most basic of basic. And Sunstoney is anything but basic.

"I never thought of myself as a NOVA girl," she says. Even so, her self-esteem was "rotting" on the East Coast, she says.

Her former partner had gotten a job in Denver, and "I just felt like I needed to isolate and address my mental health and get out of this town," she recalls.

Not long after she moved here, Sunstoney immersed herself in the local music scene, going to shows and making new friends. "To find community, you have to show up," she says. "To be supported, you have to support others. Not even in a strategic way, but in a natural way.
"I think I posted in one music-industry group," she continues, which is how she met her bassist. She got booked for her first show in June last year, and that's when she formed friendships with such local artists as Grace DeVine and Yugs. "And I would go to their shows, they would come to my shows," she says. "That's just DIY-or-die. Support your friends, go to shows, buy the merch. It's a culture, a culture that I'm very much invested in. It's very genuine."

But then, after seeing one Sunstoney show, it would be impossible not to support her. She commands the stage with infectious energy that also flows out of her songs, which she says are inspired by "new experiences and people and situations." For example, "Stoned in the Parking Lot" is about her friend who was afraid to make a move on a crush.

Most of the time, her lyrics are drawn from being a "third-party observer," Sunstoney says. "They're not even about me. They're my perspective on something that I saw. But they're always along the lines of radical self-love, and I can address something in myself that I don't necessarily know how to talk about. What inspires me is when I'm able to therapize myself and who I am at the time, and putting it in the context of something else, like love, self-discovery, self-love and trying to elevate myself and people around me."

That's where her moniker, taken from her birthstone — the sunstone — comes in. "The whole point of the sunstone crystal is that you bring light and motivation into others," she says, "and you're spreading this...not necessarily joy, but uplifting others."
Sunstoney doesn't want to "look in the rearview mirror," she says, but always move forward. She wants to make people dance, which comes into play in pop numbers such as 2023's "RIDE." Then there's "Coming Down (From Your Love)," from The Mirror Is Calling, which is about "watching others fall in love and celebrating it," she explains.

The track "Iridescent" is as sparkling as its title implies, and was written when "I didn't have any sense of community," she reflects, "but I had this internet community, just Discord, Tumblr-girly community, where we would chit-chat and smoke weed and shoot the shit and talk about life. That was the first time I was like, 'Why don't you just make a song for fun? Why are you always overthinking, comparing yourself to other people? Write about getting high with the girly pops and discovering who you are."

The Mirror Is Calling doesn't just make for an incredible listen, but it prompts self-reflection, as well. The stories woven by the lyrics paint a picture in your mind, while the rhythms and flawless vocals leave an unforgettable, dreamy impact. Experience it for yourself when Sunstoney opens for Pleasure Prince's album-release show at the Skylark Lounge on Saturday, August 31.

"People can expect a full reveal on me," Sunstoney says, "like all my personality and what I'm trying to share. I definitely think that, even though I'm not making punk music, I try to find moments to rage. I'm sharing tidbits about the songs and what they mean to me. It's definitely an intimate, present vibe."

Sunstoney opens for Pleasure Prince, 8 p.m. Saturday, August 31, Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway. Tickets are $21.70.