Suuns - Images Du Futur
- Written by Russell Warfield
Throughout the climactic closing passages of the brilliant ‘Arena’ – highpoint of startlingly well-formed debut ‘Zeroes QC’ – Suuns deliver on the build-up of tension they create. After a teasing, slinking four minute period, they descend into cathartic, full blown wig-out; guitars wailing, drums pounding, bass snaking in what feels like a sixty second gasp for air. But the great strength of that LP was how sparingly and rarely Suuns broke their well-crafted tension by indulging us in the release it promised, and how effective these moments were as a result. With the further matured Images De Futur, Suuns steel their nerve to take this approach even further away from moments of easy gratification, creating an even finer album built upon an even more icily precise minimalism, comprised almost solely of tension, without any corresponding release.
The marvel of Images De Futur is how something with such few and so simple sounding components can be so engrossing; and the reason for this is the obvious meticulousness required to create something so seemingly effortless and half formed. Take obvious stand out ‘2020’ for example, with its riff apparently just collapsing down the fret board, and with that itchy little bend on the barely-hit note. It is, of course, actually a riff of razor sharp composition, borderline perfection even. And so it is that the covert minimalism means that moments which might sound pedestrian in an overstuffed mix, actually hit straight between the eyes, falling into place at precisely the right moment for huge explosions executed on a tiny scale. It might only be a couldn't be-simpler marching beat, but when it kicks into the mix to accompany the riff about a minute into the song, the jolt of energy it provides is disproportionately intense.
If there is a criticism to be made on the overall structure of the record, it could be argued that the record might be better served by even just one more rhythmically robust banger like ‘Bambi’ or ‘2020’. As it is, tracks of softer focus like ‘Sunspot’ and the ambient title track cause the second half to drift slightly, and possibly meandering a little too indulgently. But when Images De Futur more than rewards the concentrated listen which the material frequently demands, this is easily forgiven. Just two albums into their career, Suuns have refined their level of craft to an incredible degree, building eerily tense songs by reducing their components to the most skeletal forms possible: repeated snatches of whispered melody, single note bass throbs, and metronomic beats, all peeling back to reveal lots of space, and coming back together (ever so occasionally) to devastating effect. The lack of pay-off might be agony for some and frustrating for others, but for those who can let Suuns tease them with half drawn guitar sounds and ideas snatched away at the brink of release, this is a greyscale heaven.
Images De Futur is out now and available from amazon