What is this? A review of the new Suns release, “The Howl and the Many/Close Calls in the U.S. Space Program”
Why is this? Because they asked us and I’m always happy to oblige.
Is that all you have to say? Pretty much.
Mister Chip Copeland sent me an IM a couple of days ago. The conversation basically amounted to
Chip: Hey, can you get a review of this finished by next week?
Me: Can I? Yes. Will I? Also yes!
It was pretty succinct.
I’ll admit, I had never heard (or heard of) Suns prior to being assigned this review. That’s cool. I’m going into this blind and the lack of predisposed feelings will theoretically keep my reaction genuine (though I would challenge that assumption and suggest that all truthful reactions are genuine if we are mindful of those pre-existing ideas). First to our old friend Myspace to figure out who the hell this band is. According to their bio:
“New in this incarnation, but certainly not new to music itself, the players behind the up and coming six man band Suns will be making their debut at the Metro this Saturday. Hatched from the head of Mikey Russell who, having somewhat recovered from the split from his band Wax on Radio, decided to get back in the musical saddle, Suns is another example of jamming turned into something more. Made up through a collection of friends and ‘heard through the grapevine’ connections, the new band has already seen one line-up change, when original drummer (one of two), Bryan Fritz had to leave for his own personal reasons “a very sad day for our band, since he was our first drummer and also a very solid dude. We were lost for a while.” (Matt Lemke) Fortunately they found fusion in their next drummer, Clinton Weber, and since July of last year have been a solid six, including everything from guitar, mandolin, banjo, and bass to synth, glockenspiel and dual drummers.” (via reviewsic.com)
Now what do we know? Well, one of the members was in another band and then started this band. Unfortunately a guy who used to be in this band quit the band but everyone still loves each other and plays lots of different instruments. Great. I’m still not sure of what they sound like. I think I saw Wax on Radio play once a few years ago. The entire extent of my memory consists of standing there and thinking, “This band’s name is really similar to TV on the Radio. I have nothing to say about the music. I’m hungry.” Still without a clue of the actual sound of the band, I decided to forge ahead to sunsband.com and finally download the release (note: they had music posted on their Mypsace page and a player on the website but I chose to ignore those sources for narrative purposes).
Upon arriving, a question struck me. I knew the two EPs were intended to be released as one complete album at some point. That means they were probably intended to be listened to as an album. What was the intended order? This baffled me for a good half an hour as I downloaded both releases and then sat pondering for 28 minutes after that. I could move from left to right as if I were reading a book (listening to The Howl and the Many first) but what if that was the opposite of correct? Few albums other than Rod Stewart’s A Night on the Town work equally well starting with side B (“The Rock Side,” as it were) as they do side A. After much hand wringing, I decided to move alphabetically because the alphabet has never let me down during our 22 year relationship (beginning with Close Calls in the US Space Program, for those playing along at home). Then I hit a snag in the listening process.
That is to say, I started listening. 30 seconds into, “You are On,” I swore.
“Shit,” I thought, “This sounds like Minus The Bear.” What I really meant was that it sounds like The Felix Culpa but even my internal monologue is trained to find a comparison of wider regard. “How on earth am I going to review music of this genre?” I have no experience with post hardcore (this is post hardcore, right?) beyond those two bands. The problem struck quickly and remained throughout the entire 39 minute listen. I found myself without any real reaction. There were certainly moments of aroused interest when I would give a doglike twist of my head at a nifty bit of instrumentation or when I finally realized how much singer Mikey Russell reminds me of Tim McIlrath. The pinging guitars and echo-y drums give the illusion of movement and the shouted, gang vocals suggest enthusiasm but I had nothing to really grab hold of and say, “Yes! I have an opinion about that!”
This is not to say that the music is bad or unskilled by any means. I’m having a very difficult time keeping this all from coming across as very negative because Suns is a band that clearly knows what they’re doing. The recordings are layered in a way that’s quite impressive. If this record was a tree I would describe it as, “verdant,” because it’s got thick green leaves everywhere! If I was a much less eloquent person I would say it was, “lousy with a shit ton of cohesive elements.” It’s just, I don’t know. Switch to List Mode:
Real complaints:
- These songs don’t sound or feel like they’ve got two drummers going at it. This is obviously subjective, but when I go into something expecting two drummers, I want that element to be noticeably utilized like it’s been done by Colossal or late period Melvins.
- After my first listen, I was surprised to find that none of the songs are more than 6 minutes long. My 2nd and 3rd listens didn’t share that surprise but the feeling of over-length remained.
Things that deserve mention:
- On the whole, I did find “The Howl and the Many,” to be more enjoyable than “Close Calls in the US Space Program,” which set the tone for much of this review.
- “Everything Changes” brings some grit that I found to be very helpful to the band’s sound. The ballad, “Gladys,” is genuinely beautiful and will be finding a permanent spot on my iPod. There’s about 45 seconds in the middle of, “Four Winds,” when Russell repeats, “Who do you think you’re fucking with? My friends are coming back again,” that sounds distinctly like late 90s Radiohead (that’s a good thing). Actually I really dig the last three minutes of the song.
Final Verdict:
For me: Meh. I don’t know.
For people who are not like me: Check it out. There’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be into this.
Visit: http://www.sunsband.com/download/ to download the release
