To properly view Suuns’ Images du Futur you have to take it outside the guise of what other artists are doing around it. One can compare each track to another similar example from another similar artist because let’s face it, for the untrained ear the general analysis leans towards comparing an artist to another. However, for the sake of time, I’d rather discuss what the album actually is, and why I enjoyed embracing it with naivete.
The simple synopsis: Images du Futur is the perfect album to begin an all-nighter.
On a more focused analysis, the album has an overarching flow that feels purposeful and beautiful. The lyrics of Ben Shemie are almost impossible to discern on most tracks, but for some reason you don’t feel like you’re being left out of the loop. After all, this band alters keys within a track, sometimes multiple times, without surrendering the original identity of the song. The talent necessary to pull off the risks in Images du Futur are impressive – coupling dissonance and sweet sub-pop harmonies, jazz / minor guitar intervals and raucous guitar noise.
“Powers of Ten” is probably the hardest rocking of the album. Bound well in time by a great rhythm section, the screaming guitars don’t feel painful, but encouraging enough to hold out for Shemie’s simple melody. “2020” starts with a similar blend to “Powers of Ten” but, in this case, the keyboards easing the dissonance of the guitars odd chromatic scale. By the time we land on “Minor Work”, the more intense “noise” subsides and overarching harmonies couple with indie-rock guitar intervals. “Edie’s Dream” jumps even further away from harsh melodies, dipping into easy-to-decipher lyrics- “I have a fear do you know what I mean / these same visions / these same visions / It’s so real/ This way I feel… Years and years to change.”
“Sunspot” and “Bambi” then reinvigorate the rock that was exchanged for introspection in the middle of the album. “Bambi” gets more dancy and dark and uses Shemie’s prickling voice to help build towards an album climax at “Holocene City”.
Traipsing in an odd scale for interludes, “Holocene City” feels like a hint of enlightenment by Suuns. With a coastal midnight drive feel – this track is a night-driving tune – and finally seems to grow out of the cold darkness of Suuns’ Montreal lair.
One of the first champions of dissonance in American music, composer Charles Ives, once said: “the word ‘beauty’ is as easy to use as the word ‘degenerate’. Both come in handy when one does or does not agree with you.” In the case of Suuns’ Images du Futur, both degenerate and beauty can have their own case in the Suuns’ limelight.
