"Heavy riffs and floating melodies from Oslo, Norway" is written on the Bandcamp page of the band Sunface. I guess that sums it up for what this band stands for. A band which is not to be confused with the sludge doom rockers Sunface from Helsinki, who ceased to exist in 2015. Likewise, one should be careful not to confuse Sunface from Oslo with the alternative rock Sunface from the San Francisco Bay Area. On their Bandcamp page it is also written: " Sunface from Oslo, Norway released their debut album Observatory in December 2016, which became monumental within the genre, and the title track was played several hundred thousand times all over the globe. Finally, after 8 years they are back and the journey continues in 2024, with the band's new album Cloud Castles - where tribe percussion and stoner/psych meet in a unique sound that has never before been heard. With a wall of speaker cabinets, fuzz, and a wide spectrum of djembe, congas, tabla etc, atmospheric melodies and heavy riffs float hand in hand in a new type of tribe ritual". Well I guess this sums it up again for what you can expect on this new release. Strangely enough you can't find anywhere the people who are responsible for this weird kind of music. Which can be described musically as psychedelic stoner rock with influences taken from progressive rock, metal, space rock and African and Middle Eastern music. A mix you don't hear everyday that's for sure. At least I didn't hear it anywhere else. So original they are by all means. Only the difficult problem is that it's not the kind of music most people like to hear on a daily basis. Sure difficult to digest I must say. Listening to the album a couple of times certainly needs recommendation. After that you might understand a little bit better why the percussive instruments such as djembe, tabla and congas replace the traditional drum kit and provide the rarely heard fusion of psychedelic stoner space rock sounds with the stylistic elements of world music. You might say that you here have to deal with psychedelic stoner rock as a tribal ritual. No more no less! Thank God they use vocals sometimes otherwise it would be even more difficult to enjoy this kind of music. Music which is most of the time improvised and recorded during jam sessions. At least that's what I think happened at the recording and rehearsal studios. To sum it up you can say that most lovers of progressive rock might find it difficult to enjoy this new kind of music. However if you are into more heavy guitar sounding music as well this album might be something for you to discover. I can only say try it just like you try a new meal in a restaurant. You never know if you might like it. But if you don't try it you never know if you could have enjoyed it! *** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
