Suuns
Zeroes QC


3.5
great

Review

by TheIdiot USER (3 Reviews)
November 3rd, 2010 | 11 replies


Release Date: 2010 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Suuns churns through the tracks of their debut record with an ear for subtlety, as each song grows and morphs with minimalist and psychedelic electronics. They've got room for improvement, but their style of organic songwriting shows strong potential.

Modern indie music often finds itself pigeonholed into a niche composed of cliche hooks and formulaic repitition of a forerunner’s once original devices. With this progression towards artistic homogeneity, it becomes all the more refreshing to hear the new formulas presented by the group’s outliers. Montreal’s Suuns stand amongst those who refrain from fulfilling pre-ordained expectation, and who have attempted to redefine the limitations of the song as a unit of expression.

Suuns have crafted a relatively fresh mixture of the organic and the electronic with their debut album Zeroes QC. Each song consists of a structural make-up that emphasizes minimalist compositions building upon themselves until either reaching a degree of stasis or an inward collapse upon the foundations that amounted to such a tensed disharmony.

Album opener “Armed for Peace” does well to give listeners a taste of what to expect, as its thick, throbbing percussion lays the foundation for a jagged and muddled synth line which builds and flows into a comfortable and organically grown dynamic that they’ve only created to distract listeners from what’s to come. A minute and thirty seconds later the guitar reacts with immediacy and aggression, and regardless of how unexpected the change, the transition feels anything but forced.

The following nine tracks follow a similar trajectory; all exceeding the expectations they’ve set for themselves and constantly keeping the listener guessing. But since they lack a certain degree of aesthetic cohesion, it’s difficult to address the album as encompassing a specific style.

“Arena” borrows the arpeggiation of Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia” and throws it in a stylistic blender with aspects of post-punk and dub to create an eerie and groovy calm. “Pie IX” breathes like a nightmarish whisper that dances continuously around an outburst that is never realized. “Up Past the Nursery” invokes the subdued delicacy of early Clinic playing one of their more dance-inducing numbers.

From a theoretical perspective, Suuns has put together one hell of a promising debut. They’ve shown that they have the capacity to articulate style in a variety of different ways that never sound forced, as each song works carefully to build from the ground up. The shorter tracks “Marauder” and “Fear” don’t seem as if they’re allowed enough time for the band to fully flesh out their ideas, resulting in a mere snippet of what could have been a better realized song. We should expect great things from this band if they can fine tune their songwriting for a sophomore release.


user ratings (50)
3.8
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
TheIdiot
November 3rd 2010


67 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Meh. I just want people to listen to this record.

crank
November 3rd 2010


332 Comments


Yeah, this record is cool

TheIdiot
November 3rd 2010


67 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I think that there is not a track on this album that fully realizes its potential. They have some work to do, but the tracks they've put out are still pretty great.

louder
January 12th 2011


1 Comments


fuckin amazin!!!

SwayzeFaced
July 20th 2011


349 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

i've enjoyed this album immensely over the past few weeks. an eloquent mixture of rock and electronic.

Aids
February 18th 2013


24542 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

this is super cool. hopefully (if/when I snag a ticket to Sasquatch) these guys will put on a good set.

Aids
March 11th 2013


24542 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

does anyone have any thoughts on the new one? I'm collecting my thoughts currently, probably gonna throw up a review in the next couple of days. I'm getting a really Battles/Women kind of vibe, I really like it.

Aids
March 11th 2013


24542 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

lol looks like no one is gonna be reading that review

Kiran
Emeritus
December 5th 2013


6134 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

this is awesome

TheWrenKing
April 8th 2017


1719 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

r u l e s

BlushfulHippocrene
Staff Reviewer
April 8th 2017


4053 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, this is fantastic.



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