AWmusic

Glen and I got to the Horseshoe just before the Suuns set while PS I Love You were still playing, another band I absolutely don’t understand why is so popular right now because not only did they name their band after a really bad Hilary Swank movie, there is really not anything special about their music. It’s basically like Wolf Parade but less interesting and with more obnoxious vocals because lead man Paul Saulnier really can’t pull off the whole off-key whiny thing the way Spencer Krug can. Yet the kids still went wild for this band, which is basically confirmation that sadly, the kids will really rock to anything these days. I guess any day. More specifically, the kids will rock to anything branded ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork. I am rolling my eyes right now.

Good thing the Suuns set was ah-mazing and made up for the horrible monotony that I had to endure during the PS I Love You set. I didn’t know a thing about Suuns before coming to this show, beyond the fact that Glen said they were good, but I trusted Glen’s opinion.

Suuns seem to really know how to work a crowd. I found myself a good chair to stand on as I am pretty short and I was determined to get a good look at this band. The ceiling was dripping sweat about a foot in front of me; that’s how packed it was in there. A very wasted man who was about 50 years old actually sat on the wet chair underneath the dripping for about 7 or 8 minutes before realizing that no, cold wet drops on your head was really something that was not easily endurable, even when you’re so drunk you can barely hold your cup upright.

Suuns kept the crowd on edge during their sound check, and then proceeded to begin their set by assaulting our ear drums with a high-pitched screech for about two minutes before launching into their first song. I don’t remember which track it was, but it was a fuel-driven, dark, and noisy beginning. The basslines were good, the beats were aggressive, and the animalistic distortion was just what I needed after a fairly distressing evening prior. Listening to this band live drove everything else but the sound out of your brain. Makes you want to dance epileptic-fit style. The band has similarities to Death From Above 1979 in the way they execute their energy in that post-punk, war-like way. But unlike DFA, there is something softer, perhaps more feminine or delicate infused in the mix.

This probably had something to do with Ben Shemie, the lead vocalist, whose stage presence lured us in, made us lean into one another just to get a little closer. He performed almost as if his body was in rigor mortis, contorting his arms around him, curling his fingertips, and shifting his shoulders stiffly as he cooed baby-sweet into the mic, androgynous, high-pitched and Brian Molko-esque. It’s Shemie who makes Suuns stand out against every other band I’ve seen so far in this festival. Most of the time we have no idea what the lyrics even are, but in songs like “Up Past the Nursery,” his soft chants of “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” in that robotic fashion somehow ends up making you feel very consciously aware of your own humanity. His voice contrasts sharply with the muscular, minimal bassline, giving you aural orgasms, one after the other. The occasional wail of a guitar pierced through the industrial/techno beats and dissonant basslines, adding an organic touch to the inhuman demeanour of their music.

Suuns produces a sound that makes you feel like you’re wandering through some kind of strange galactic-fantasy dreamscape; where technicolor flowers made of candy snake up to greet you as you walk past; where silk hems graze the back of your legs only to lead you to the discovery that no one is actually there. Things get bigger and smaller without warning. Animals are howling. Hurricanes are pushing houses over as if they were made out of matchsticks. The sky is most likely an angry purple, marked with dry lightning. Beautiful people come by to seduce you and whisper naughty things into your ears. You are terrified and anxious but you can’t help but concur that this is a dream you don’t want to end.

Suuns – Up Past The Nursery

Tags: Horseshoe, NXNE, NXNE 2011, suuns