The new record from Canada's Suuns offers up a mood and perfects it. It's a short record, but it's a consistent release. In fact, if a listener is in the right mindset, perhaps enhanced if that's your bag, I'd imagine this one would be something of a classic. You can decide for yourself on Friday when The Witness drops on Secretly Canadian.
Opener "Third Stream" suggests a release in debt to the best records from The Telescopes, but the subsequent tracks are more obtuse. "Clarity" faintly recalls Jon Hassell numbers with plenty of the sort of modern despair heard in Radiohead's output at the beginning of the 21st century. This selection, and especially "Witness Protection", are more of the same, though they're really good. Flashes of Fad Gadget and other electro pioneers can be found in the grooves here, but Suuns wisely make this their own thing. The Witness succeeds enormously, offering up (with the exception of the lovely "Go To My Head") the kind of desolate post-punk rooted in electronica (of a sort) that should make listeners of a certain age wildly happy.
The Witness is out on Friday via Secretly Canadian.
More details on Suuns via the official website.
[Photo: Will Lew]