Translate

Blog Archive

Friday 20 May 2016

CAUSA SUI – RETURN TO SKY (El Paraiso Records LP, CD, D/L).

With a sound that has been described as “the sound of a giant wave rolling up through the last four decades of rock”, Danish four piece instrumental Post Rock/Psych Rock band Causa Sui return with a new long-player, their first full length album since the 2013 release Euporie Tide. The first thing you notice with Causa Sui’s new album, Return To Sky, is a new Post Rock dynamism added to their sound………whilst still retaining the psychedelic shimmer of their previous records, Return To Sky has several moments of full-on “quite-loud-quite” blow outs with very muscular drums and bass driving hard, it’s less Explosions In The Sky but more the sound of Post Rock giants Mogwai and newer Psych Rock bands such as Radar Men From The Moon crashing together in a thrilling sonic collision with early 70s heavy Psychedelic guitar rock. Causa Sui’s music is now more earthy and heavy than ever before, but the ability to absorb everything from Shoegaze and vintage Italian film music to spiritual Jazz, Afrobeat and minimalism into its fabric has matured as well. Never before has Causa Sui sounded as deep and mesmerizing as on this new record.

Opening with the heavy bass and pounding drums of the epic ‘Dust Meridian’, Return To Sky finds Causa Sui exploring a much more expansive sonic landscape than previously with this track blending dense Stoner Rock with the sound of early 70s psychedelic Afrobeat. Mixing together blasts of 70s proto Metal riffage with a polyrhythmic Africa 70 groove and a Afro/Psych melody picked out on an organ somewhere between Fela Kuti and Ray Manzarek in an epic slice of sprawling Post Rock which is a hell of a way to kick start a record. ‘The Source’ is an another heavy riffing, post-psychedelic 70s heavy Rock infused with Post-Rock sensibility instrumental and yet another illustration of Causa Sui’s beefed up sound which bludgeons all before it before slipping into a coda……the track gently fades to nothing after two minutes of contrasting drone and melodic wash exploration that fully exemplifies the scope of the band’s sonic palette. Having a more familiar sound to that of the previous records, ‘Mondo Buzzo’ elegantly twists and turns through passages of sublime beauty and intense noise that fans of Causa Sui know and love……….a perfect closing track for the first side of the album. The second side of Return To Sky starts with the fluid and jazzy Prog Rock-esque ‘Dawn Passage’ which is not a million miles away from the early 70s virtuoso guitar bands such as Wishbone Ash and Man before easing into the beatific shimmer of the albums epic closing title track. ‘Return To Sky’ gently ebbs and flows as it unfolds in a series of “quite-loud-quite” moments.....as the track drifts skywards as if caught on a zephyr wind it twists and twirls leaving a sonic vapour trail of blissed out beauty before floating back to earth. It’s a near transcendental moment to wrap up what is a fantastic journey into sound…………the whole album is perfect for headphones. Return To Sky is the sound of a band pushing the envelope, continually exploring and fans of Causa Sui will not be disappointed with this record, its stunning mash up of Post Rock and early 70s Psychedelic Rock will hopefully also turn on a few more listeners to this great band.

Return To Sky is out now on El Paraiso Records on vinyl and CD. Available from the El Paraiso online shop and all good indie record emporiums.........a digital download is also available from the El Paraiso web store.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN  

No comments:

Post a Comment