“The Breaks became sort of the opposite of our last record,” says SUUNS‘ Joseph Yarmush, referencing 2021’s The Witness. “Nothing was really played together. We were caught in a little bit of a wormhole, trying new things, throwing different things against the wall.” That wormhole led SUUNS to ethereal dreampop territory crafted from loops, synths and samples. They’ve used some of these elements before — dubstep bass, extreme autotune — but never quite like this. Ben Shemie’s distinctive vocals, even put through all the effects they are here, keep things in the SUUNS solar system, but “The Breaks,” “Vanishing Point” and “Fish on a String” make for uncharted territory. Listen to the whole album below.
For more on the album, SUUNS were nice enough to break down The Breaks, track by track. It’s an informative, fun and at time surprising read. Check that out below.
SUUNS – “THE BREAKS” TRACK-BY-TRACK
Vanishing Point
This is one of the first songs we made for this record, and you can hear how we’re passing the baton to ourselves from the kind of thing we were working with when we did “The Witness”. It took years to complete: whole sections were added and removed, instruments were recorded and then deleted and re-recorded. Usually when you do that, it means you’re lost, but every once in a while the result is something rich and 3D, a palimpsest that feels lived-in, layers of words over crossed-out words that you don’t remember putting down. It’s a song for a long drive (obviously), and a vibe. Those are samples of EV engines at the end, which was the beginning of a fixation we encountered with highway/transportation sounds/themes
Fish On A String
These days we make our records entirely in the studio, but this was a rare song that was workshopped over the course of a few tours, live in front of an audience. I think that you can hear that in how it came out – Ben’s vocal delivery is rawer than on most other tracks on this record, the drum programming is minimal, and although the composition has many different parts, there’s something about the arrangement that is very simple, easy to follow. To our surprise, this song resonated strongly with audiences (very rare when you are showcasing new material to old fans), so we decided not to change much when it came time to put this song on record. This song kinda plays itself.
Rage
Making a record is usually an extensive and detailed tour of the different types of creative processes that can occur: you get songs that you kill yourself over for years, songs that stymie you, and sometimes (usually once per record) you get a song that just unfurls itself in front of your eyes and you more just kind of watch it rather than make anything happen. From an extremely skeletal demo of midi piano and voice, we constructed this song in a day, and each element felt as inevitable as it did exciting. All in a day’s work. SUUNS’ currency is minimalism and contrast, both of which this song has in spades.
Road Signs And Meanings
Although we try to go far beyond this, we always have one foot in something bluesy. It’s deep in our diet. We’ve been playing this song live a lot recently and even if you don’t yet know it, you do know it. It’s very much a traditional SUUNS song that way. Just so it’s not so meat ‘n’ potatoes, SUUNS songs always need an element of incongruity – what that means has changed over the years, but the essential rule hasn’t. “Road Signs and Meanings” had achieved the status of a solid, respectable jam, but was missing that je ne sais quoi, that element that subverts and re-casts what you thought the energy of the song was. Piano (very loud in the mix, played very quietly) seemed like the least likely instrument to appear on a SUUNS record, so we leaned into that, its serenity almost jarring against a tense backdrop. Also: not a bad song for a drive if we do say so.
Overture
This was similar to “Rage” in how quickly it came together, I think you can hear that these songs share a similar energy. They both came out of us in one exhalation, there is a ‘first thought, best thought’ quality to them. ‘Overture’ contains some of our biggest (and funniest) gestures, all discovered in an afternoon. Wagnerian/Travis Barker energy in the service of an anti-propaganda song. Flames dispelled on tarmac sheets. You can hear us having fun on this one.
Wave
This is kind of a love letter to our longtime friends The Besnard Lakes. It’s maybe one the least “on brand” songs we’ve ever made – it’s straightforward and squarely in-the-genre; a pretty pop melody over some creamy guitars. When it feels good you don’t investigate it too much.
Doreen
Oh Doreen. This song is like a picture of the moon. This is a song written way back, when that Plastic Ono Band thing was on our minds a lot. There used to be a lot more layers, but we stripped it all back for an intimate moment with just the guitar, the lyrics and the vocoder. It’s cool to hear a vocoder leading what would otherwise be a folk song, right down the middle. Doreen isn’t a person per se, but that fleeting ghost of inspiration, imagination, things to come.
The Breaks
This is kind of a sister song to “Vanishing Point.” Synthesizer strings, deep bass, and drums for a long drive. We made this song out of small drum loops all pasted together, something we had experimented with on “Look No Further” from our album “Felt”. There’s always been an old school hip-hop vein running through the rhythm section in this band, so that’s that. It’s one of the best songs Ben has ever written. Those dirt bike samples are to speed you outta there.
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SUUNS will be on tour this fall, including West Coast dates in November.
SUUNS – 2024 Tour Dates
September 12 – London, UK @ Studio 9294
September 13 – Leffinge, Belgium @ Leffingeleuren Festival
September 14 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Indiestad Festival at Paradiso
September 15 – Lyon, France @ Epicerie Moderne
September 16 – Marseille, France @ Espace Julien
September 17 – Paris, France @ Trabendo
September 19 – Liège, Belgium @ Reflektor
September 20 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Lantaren Venster
September 21 – Hamburg, Germany @ Reeperbahn Festival
September 22 – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
November 2 – Mexico City, Mexico @ Hipnosis Music Festival 2024
November 14 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl
November 15 – Seattle, WA @ Verga Project
November 17 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater
November 19 – Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex
November 20 – Reno, NV @ Lo Bar
November 21 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
November 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room