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.
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