Suuns

SUUNS – The Witness (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:57 minutes | 385 MB | Genre: Art Rock, Neo-psychedelia
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Joyful Noise Recordings

Critics say that each Suuns album is just another one-way trip into the darkest and most obscure corners of the human soul. Led by Ben Shemie, the Canadian quartet (now become a trio since the departure of keyboardist Max Henry in 2018) would sink ever deeper into a protean rock’n’roll mixing sick psychedelia and experimental explosions, all wrapped up in saturated guitars or electronic beats. Can and Neu!’s krautrock, the shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine, post punk from The Fall, and Warp’s electro have been Suun’s energy source for years. But that was… before? In 2018, Felt, as disturbing as much as it was exciting, was the more soothing fourth album where the Canadians let themselves go a little and brought into the world a less clinical recording, more organic and handmade, but no less oppressive for all that. Three years later, the lethargic feeling is more noticeable and above all, more fascinating. A disk in a weightless state, The Witness sometimes flirts with post-rock and even experimental jazz. Suuns have burst out of their straitjacket, filled their lungs with (almost) fresh air and are starting to leap from cloud to cloud! The recesses of the human soul are always in their sights, but they at last allow themselves to be playful, melancholic, even optimistic. And the light was? – Marc Zisman

(more…)

SUUNS – FICTION EP (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 20:02 minutes | 215 MB | Genre: Experimental, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Joyful Noise Recordings

SUUNS are future-oriented. New sounds, new techniques, new ways of thinking; above all, new environments are the lifeblood of the band. Whether in a sweltering studio in Dallas with John Congelton, self-recording in Montreal’s storied Breakglass Studio, or playing acoustic instruments at Hotel 2 Tango, the group’s environment has always had an indelible impact on the sound of whatever future SUUNS are imagining at the time. And true to form, here on FICTION EP, SUUNS are exploring fresh processes as a result of their current surroundings and global circumstances.

(more…)

Suuns – Felt (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:04 minutes | 493 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Psychedelic, Experimental
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Secretly Canadian

A one-way ticket to the darkest and most somber corners of the human souls. This is usually what every album from Suuns sounds like. With Hold/Still released in 2016, the Canadian band dived a little bit more into this protean rock ‘n’ rock that can’t decide between sick psychedelia and experimental deflagrations, whether carried by saturated guitars or elegantly Stakhanoviste electronic beats. As often with Suuns, you hear krautrock in the style of Can or of the Neu!, shoegaze stolen from My Bloody Valentine, post-punk in the style of The Fall, electro in the style of Warp, and many other things more or less avant-garde… As worrisome as it is fascinating, this fourth album is quieter than the previous ones. Suuns somewhat lets loose and gives birth to a less clinical recording, more organic and handcrafted, but that does not mean it is less oppressive. Once again: it is not for the faint hearted.

(more…)