SUUNS: The Breaks

SUUNS manipulate the mind to great effect. Since their first mind-bending crusade fourteen years ago in Zereos Q.C., the Montreal band has always tackled art from different angles, and it has often produced mixed results.

The now trio, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Ben Shemie, multi-instrumentalist Joseph Yarmush, and drummer/percussionist Liam O’Neill, have gone through some notable changes in recent years. Firstly, with the departure of founding member Max Henry prior to 2020’s The Witness, which was followed by Shemie’s move from the band’s Montreal base to Paris.

While The Witness at times felt claustrophobic, SUUNS’ excellent follow-up, The Brakes, sees them with more room to breathe, and it may be via Shemie’s recent move that has inadvertently opened a new window for the band to travel through.

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It’s a window that has led SUUNS to tinker more than they often would, as The Breaks is tangled in spatial loops and synths that tap into a fantastical, shimmering new sound world. A mishmash of ideas that results in some of the most palatable material the band has produced.

While the The Witness was well-received with many suggesting that SUUNS had reached the summit of their creative arc, in truth the band had already arrived there with the 2018 release, Felt. The Breaks is every bit its equal and, with more time, could very well better it.

SUUNS have always made a habit of putting their best foot forward from the off, and Vanishing Point sees old habits dying hard with a floaty, sleepy-eyed space-rocker that is as hypnotic as they’ve ever sounded. “Open up your heart / Because I know you love me,” sings Shemie through a miasma that leads to the paths where Air created Moon Safari.

It’s the first of many direct confessions from the vocalist, as Fish on a String follows – a skeletal sing-speak blur that sees Shemie using metaphor that operates beneath the waters as the title suggests. Commenting in the press release, Shemie noted it’s the most confrontational song the band has written, and channelling their inner Clinic, a band they’ve always held close association with, again SUUNS expose a fresh, hypnotic swagger.

And while the minimalist alt-rock of Rage shows the band’s playful side with something that the Animal Collective probably should have written 10 years ago instead of constantly leading us down blind alleys, Road Sides and Meanings continues SUUNS’ voyage with subtle intricacies and liberal gadget wrangling which forms a wild, tangled-liked form of psychedelia.

Meanwhile things take another turn on Overture, which is SUUNS at their elusive best. Abstract meanderings both in sound and theme, as a colourful shower of synths rushes from the speakers, with Shemie confessing to bumming rides on dead streets and losing the way on the road to mecca. It’s SUUNS getting cataclysmic.

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With the spits, hisses and motoring echoes of Wave, it sees the band guiding us to the final frontier where they leave their best for last. Starting with Doreen, which is one of the most beautiful songs they have written. The protagonist, a phantom that haunts and evades Shemie’s dreams night-in-night-out.

Then there’s the closing title track which moves the goal posts, both for the band and atmospheric rock as we know it. Slow-motion, aquatic rock with spidery arpeggios and synth riding melodies that take you through technicoloured portals. It’s the kind of song you want to bottle up and preserve forever, and while SUUNS have always had the ability to produce these moments, they haven’t delivered one better.

The Breaks sees the band take the less-is-more approach to new places. And those new places are where art-rock and ambient psychedelia meet in what is a beautiful concoction of ideas. Music that washes over you but also asks the questions you can never answer with any great confidence. In that sense, there’s an unsettling quality to the SUUNS experience, and that’s what’s made them such a curious act to indulge over the years. And while that doesn’t change on The Breaks, with their approach slightly removed from previous endeavours, the results are as powerful as ever.

The Breaks is out now via Joyful Noise Recordings / Secret City. Purchase from Bandcamp.