is now BY Matt J. Simmons following our nose. We keep adding things and then subtracting, subtracting, subtracting— we do a lot of that. I think a lot of journalists struggle with it, not to say that we’ re blowing their minds so the y can’ t understand it, but I guess people hear ing our m usic for the fir st time might find it a little disorienting.”
The latest record opens with Powers of Ten, an in-your-face jangly rocker with tense vocals. It then progresses into a couple of deeper, darker tunes with space y psychedelic sensibilities, before returning to tunes with more conventional song structures.“ This new album is, dare I sa y, more accessible,” says O’ Neill.“ It’ s more like a mellow, cruising, druggy vibe.” He sa ys he thinks the band, without ever actually saying it out loud, worried a little that they might disappoint their fans by adapting and evolving away from Zeroes.“ But you can’ t think lik e that,” he continues.“ It’ s like going to ea t and watching yourself in the mir ror and then adjusting y our facial expressions. It’ ll never work like that, you’ ll never enjoy your meal.”
Despite unspoken doubts, Suuns wrote an album that felt na tural and they finished recording Images du futur la te last fall.“ At that point I needed to take a few months off,” O’ Neill admits.“ You’ re working on it so much and you have no idea ho w it sounds almost. You’ ve heard it so many times and reworked it in so many different iterations, that it basically just sounds like a blast of white noise.” After a break, he came bac k to it and sa ys he’ s happy with the results.“ I think we’ ve achieved more of a consistent vibe and we’ ve gone fur ther toward defining our sound.”
But now comes the hard part. They’ re no longer getting“ new band a ttention” and have to go out and pr ove themselves. Luckily, Suuns are most comfor table on stage.“ We consider ourselves a live band, kind of first and foremost, I’ d say. Now, this is when the alb um truly starts— we’ re about to star t touring. That’ s when we do our thing, stretch our legs and the songs develop. That’ s when we have the most fun.” [ sic ]
? LO: It’ d have to be either David Mitchell’ s number9dream or good old Brave New World.
Joseph Yarmush