SUUNS
FELT (SECRETLY CANADIAN)
"This record is definitely looser than our last one [2016's Hold/Still]. It's not as clinical. There's more swagger." says singer/guitarist Ben Shemie about "Felt", the latest album by SUUNS.
You can hear this freedom flowing through the 11 tracks on the album. It's both a continuation and rebirth, the Montreal quartet returning to beloved local facility Breakglass Studios (where they cut their first two albums [Zeroes QC and Images Du Futur] with Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes) but this time recording themselves at their own pace, over five fertile sessions spanning several months.
A simultaneous stretching out and honing in, mixed to audiophile perfection by St Vincent producer John Congleton (helmer of Hold/Still), who flew up especially from Dallas to deploy his award-winning skills in situ.
"Felt" lead single "Watch You, Watch Me" showcases an organic/synthetic rush that builds and builds atop drummer Liam O'Neill's elevatory rhythm.
O'Neill exclaims, "It was different and exciting. In the past, there was a more concerted effort on my part to drum in a controlled and genre-specific way.
Self-consciously approaching things stylistically. Us doing it ourselves, that process was like a very receptive, limitless workshop to just try out ideas." Complementing O'Neill are the ecstatic, Harmonia-meets-Game Boy patterns unleashed by electronics mastermind Max Henry.
Eschewing presets, Henry devised fresh sounds for each song on "Felt" while also becoming a default musical director, orchestrating patches and oscillations.
Quietly enthusing about "freaky post-techno" and Frank Ocean's use of space, he's among your more modest studio desk jockeys: "Yeah, I sat in the control room while the others played - hitting 'record' and 'stop'.
It also gave me the flexibility to move parts around and play with effects. I do have a sweet tooth for pop music."