by Katie Hanford
Sun Organ has managed to churn out yet another magnetically creepy, satisfyingly chunky stew of tracks with their latest self-titled release. Messing with reality from the get-go, the album starts off with a 36-minute-long track of the album itself. It’s a kind of mind trick that will snare the half-focused listener into believing they’re in for a half-hour long song, with each tune moving smoothly through feedback dreamscape transitions. It’s a brilliant idea to ensure the record is played as it’s meant to be heard: straight through, without a start or finish to take you out of the dreamscape it has created. If you, like me, want to know the names of the tracks you’re falling in love with, fear not – the album repeats in a conventional, song-by-song way.
“Dread” starts things off with a particularly heavy mood. Aggressive and crunchy guitars carve a solid foundation while feedback-laden tones swirl above, weaving pathways with front-man Tim Jordan’s brightly harmonized vocals. Sun Organ is no stranger to dark moods and gritty tones, but there is something especially foreboding about this record’s beginning, a satisfying bark that satiates the head-banger in all of us. As the first few tracks delve deeper into the darkness, “Human” crashes in with a riff that blows the rest away, with Jordan’s warped vocals painting a horror-story scene aptly finished with a scream. This marks a transition for the record, setting off a slew of underwater dreamscape melodies that provide an uneasy calm. “Shade of Green” lazes around reverb with a heartbeat bass drum lurking below, while “Follow The Crow” meanders through an atmosphere high above your consciousness, its drowning guitars demanding a swaying body and half-closed eyelids (that’s how I listen to it, anyway).
Dropping a self-titled release years into a musical career is always cause for attention, and after spending some quality time with this record, I can attest to the hype. In general, Sun Organ manages musical moods supremely well, moving seamlessly between metal crunch and shoegaze warp. The dreamscapes aren’t necessarily new, either. What sets this release apart from the rest of their catalog is its ability to juxtapose heavy darkness and ethereal beauty, a contradiction that nullifies either extreme discomfort or overt ease. What is left is a tug-and-pull of satisfying complimentary tones, dreams and nightmares that intertwine until you’re both at ease and off-put. It is this uniquely crafted liminality that keeps you coming back for more.