The Rising Tide

The Rising Tide is the fourth and most recent studio album by American rock band Sunny Day Real Estate. Following the release of Live, the group left independent label Sub Pop for major label Time Bomb Recordings, and changed from a quartet to a trio. The band spent a month working on material through jamming, eventually resulting in around 30 songs. They began recording at Dreamland Recording Studios in West Hurley, New York with producer Lou Giordano at the end of 1999. The Rising Tide is an arena rock album, with elements of progressive rock and symphonic rock; the lyrics includes references to rain, angels and the ocean. Individual tracks drew comparison to Rush, Yes and Doves, while frontman Jeremy Enigk's vocals were compared to Yes frontman Jon Anderson and U2 frontman Bono. "One" was released to alternative radio in May 2000, with The Rising Tide following on June 20. It reached number 97 on the Billboard 200, and went on to sell over 67,000 copies in the US by June 2001. It received a generally positive reaction from music critics, some of whom praised Giordano's production and change in Enigk's vocal style. It was promoted with listening parties and in-store appearances, prior to a six-week North American tour. The group went on another US stint towards the end of the year, and had planned to visit Europe in early 2001, however, the trek was cancelled. The group eventually broke up in June citing management issues, advertising and Time Bomb's distribution deal, although they had reunited for two times in 2009 and 2022. Background and production Sunny Day Real Estate released their third album How It Feels to Be Something On in September 1998 through independent label Sub Pop. It was a critical success; a live show was recorded in May 1999 and released in October that year under the name Live. Around this time, the band recorded a demo that they planned to shop around to interested producers. Despite finishing their contract with Sub Pop, the label would not let the band leave, forcing them to buy their way out. They signed to major label Time Bomb Recordings, who had a distribution deal with Arista Records. Hoerner said part of the reason they left Sub Pop was due to it not being a "particularly effective label". Despite the addition of former Posies bassist Joe Skyward prior to the release of How It Feels to Be Something On, the band re-grouped as a three-piece with Enigk handling bass.