Back in 2012, Montreal experimental rock band Suuns decided to collaborate with long-time friend and peer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh of Jerusalem In My Heart, and checked into a Montreal studio for a week. And then, nothing. Expectations were low, and the recordings were plunked down in the labour of love category to be noodled with when time permitted.
“When we started going it, we didn’t expect to make an album,” says Ben Shemie, of Suuns, currently down in Texas mixing the band’s upcoming new album, slated for release in early 2016.
“We know Radwan, we work with him on tour, he does sound for us and he’s a real force in Montreal and we thought it would be super cool to work with this guy. He is a big influence on the Montreal scene. But our expectations were low mostly because we are so busy, he’s so busy. We thought it would be cool if it happened but probably it won’t just logistically.”
But, over time, the recording was completed and the plan was to release it themselves to their more hard-core fans, producing maybe 200 copies.
“That was really the plan up until the very last minute it was mastered,” says Shemie. “We went to our label, who have been very cool with us, and have been really into what we’ve been doing. We let them know we have this side project to make sure there was no conflict and they loved it.”
And, let’s be clear here, most people have been suitably impressed by this record. It combines one of the country’s most innovative bands and adds another who brings some Middle Eastern influences and other progressive sounds. The result, Gazelles In Flight released this past spring via Secret City Records, is audio dynamite.
“It’s got a really good energy to it,” says Shermie. “It wasn’t really over-thought, so it has a more impulsive feel to it. And that’s often really hard to achieve.”
Suuns and Jerusalem In My Heart are performing at Geary Lane on June 13 as part of Sound Seance, a new avant garde and experimental music festival that taps into the aforementioned Montreal scene.
Others on the three-day bill include Wrekmeister Harmonies, featuring many of the members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Expo 70, Off World, Jessica Moss, Oliva Neutron-John, Caro Diaro and Toronto bands such as Mimico, Dirty Inputs and Babel.
Sound Seance has followed a roundabout path to promoting their festival. Fans of the genre-defying music that will be showcased are champing at the bit, but here we are the day the festival is set to begin and we still don’t know who is playing when. But, we have been told that the actual schedule will be published later today right here!
