Album Review : Sunn 0))) - Kannon (2015)
It might be heartbreaking to some of you, but hipsters didn't invent anything. Not even garage rock or underground music circuits. Since the internet was first commercialized around the mid-nineties, I've been seeking the strangest and most extreme music on the web. One of the most endearing finds I've ever made was American label Southern Lord and their flagship band, experimental, guitar-based drone metal outfit Sunn O))). They've released a new album last week called Kannon, which I wish to discuss today because it is an interesting new wrinkle in their groundbreaking legacy.
The first time I've even listened to Sunn O))), I didn't get it, and I suspect it is the case for most people. I've been told you never FULLY get it until you've heard them live because they play so loud that it enables the physical component of their music. I've never had the privilege of seeing them live, so I couldn't tell you. Anyway, they're not an easy band to understand because their "songs" go pretty much against everything contemporary song structure stand for: choruses, bridge, lyrics, beginning and endings, much like the band that inspired the very creation of the group, Earth, Sunn O)))'s main calling card though is walls and walls of distorted guitars, so I can understand how alien it must sound to the untrained ear *.
That leads us to Kannon, their first full length release since Monoliths and Dimensions in 2009. I guess you need a baseline as to what Sunn O))) is in order to appreciate it, but it's pleasantly different from everything they made before. It seems to me like they had a precise idea of what they wanted to do here instead of exploring different moods and soundwaves. Just the title announces what it is: a ceremony to Kannon, the buddhist goddess of mercy. The word "ceremony" might be a little precise to illustrate what it is, but you get the point: Kannon feels like an attempts to achieve communion with a divine presence.
Photo Credit : Southern Lord Records
There are three tracks to Kannon, or should I say three cantos which are simply named : Kannon 1, Kannon 2 and Kannon 3. It stands out from Sunn O)))'s body of work as it higher frequencies and emphasizes mantra-like repetition. The textures are as subtle and rich as they've ever were, but the sounds are clearer and sharper, which makes it easier to appreciate the patient, monklike sound layering work that has been made on this album. Sunn O))) songs have always been slow moving monoliths, and their beauty has always been in their progression which is even truer for Kannon as it progresses towards something precise: enlightenment.
Hungarian singer and regular collaborator Attila Csihar is doing the vocals on Kannon and I believe his contribution was crucial in giving the album such a strong identity. Csihar progresses from low pitched rasps (which he is famous for doing well) to all-out clean ceremonial chanting to otherworldly growls through Kannon, which symbolizes the transformation, the enlightenment of a being into a post-human state. In Kannon 3, his growls are accompanied by haunting, echoing, alien guitar twangs that heighten the listener's feeling of being on another planet/dimension. If Kannon has such a strong and precise identity, it's because Attila leads the ceremony like a high priest.
There's always been a religious aspect to Sunn O)))'s music. Even their song structure will remind you of symphonies and requiems, things that were created to honor beauty instead of being easy on the listener's ears. Kannon holds up to Sunn O)))'s legacy in that regards as its beauty and its power gradually unfolds to a listener who knows where and how to look for it. They definitely aren't a band meant for everybody and their very concept is kind of a natural barrier against fair-weather fans, but if you're into the moody and experimental and not necessarily into electronics,
Kannon is a good Sunn O))) album and as good of a place as any to begin start your journey.
* Sunn O))) is a band best enjoyed with headphones in order to grasp the subtleties of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley’s guitar play. Their are various ways to experience the band though: with headphones on, without headphones on, with one earbud, at full volume, mid-volume, etc. It's all going to give you a different listening experience. It's one of the things I enjoy about the band. Their albums are a renewable pleasures and exercises in creative listening.
