Originally released for North American audiences in 2010, “Zeroes QC” the genre baffling debut by Montreal four piece Suuns comes to the UK backed by a widely positive media reaction. Combining alien electronic blips and bleeps, metronomic machine beats, with flourishes of jagged guitar interplay and authentic drum rhythms, Ben Shemie and company throw a lot at what is a surprisingly spacious and at times atmospheric long player. The attempt to provide the listener with a mix of ambient electronica, shoe gaze, dream pop, with the odd hint of post rock suggests that Suuns are yet to identify their true style, and in many ways this album is flawed by a general lack of generic focus. In addition, whilst the band obviously wished to create an underlying tension to their songs, for some reason producer Jack Lasek and the band don’t endeavour to flesh out the sonic bones beyond their intros.

These inconsistencies can’t hide what is an excellent start in the shape of the first three songs. The ponderous machine beats that introduce “Armed For Peace” suddenly explode into life via the organic rhythms and searing guitar shards that complement it. “Gaze” builds on a pumping taut bass rhythm that lays the foundation for the most dark and yet powerful guitar and synth interplay on this collection. “Arena” grabs your attention with a stirring outro. From then, everything just seems to implode and the momentum of the first three songs never returns. From the drab rhythm and indecipherable babble of “Pie IX”, to the turgid synth blues number “Organ Blues” it’s all a difficult proposition in attempting to find something positive.

Suuns have genuine creative ambition. “Zeroes QC” rarely shows the promise and consistency they are undoubtedly capable of.

6/10

1 Armed for Peace 3:37
2 Gaze 3:57
3 Arena 5:12
4 Pie IX 3:16
5 Marauder 1:49
6 Sweet Nothing 7:03
7 Up Past the Nursery 3:23
8 PVC 3:40
9 Fear 1:58
10 Organ Blues 3:45

Pie IX

Up Past The Nursery