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Suuns () is a Canadian
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band from
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. It was formed in mid-2007 when vocalist and guitarist Ben Shemie and guitarist and bassist Joe Yarmush got together to make some beats which quickly evolved into a few songs. The duo was soon joined by drummer Liam O'Neill and bassist and keyboardist Max Henry to complete the original line-up. The band signed to
Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...
in 2010. Since 2010, Suuns saw the departure of Henry as an official member (he continues to record in the studio) to pursue a scholastic path, and in 2020 they officially signed with
Joyful Noise Recordings Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...
with their 2020 output of '' Fiction EP'' followed by their LP '' The Witness''.


History

In 2009, Suuns entered
Breakglass Studios Breakglass Studios is a Canadian analogue and digital recording studio established in 2005. Co-founded by producer Dave Smith and Jace Lasek, the studio space is located in the Le Plateau-Mont-Royal area of Montreal, Quebec. Since its inceptio ...
with Jace Lasek of
the Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes ( ) are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboa ...
co-producing and engineering, and recorded their first album, ''Zeroes QC''. Upon its release in 2010, a reviewer of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that it offered a "rigorous strategy behind every gorgeous onslaught." The album appeared on the !Earshot National Top 50 Chart. Suuns toured the East Coast in the summer with Parlovr and further established their fan base during their fall tour with
Land of Talk Land of Talk is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2006 from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band is led by singer and guitarist Elizabeth Powell. History Before becoming the front-person for Land of Talk, Elizabeth Powell began her career as a ...
and
The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes ( ) are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboa ...
. Suuns spent much of 2011 performing in the U.S., Europe and Canada including New York's
CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
,
SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
,
Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espany ...
, and over twelve other festivals. They also headlined a Canadian tour and co-headlined a North American tour with PS I Love You. During a rare couple weeks off in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Suuns decided to take a risk to experiment and create two new, unusual songs. "Red Song" and "Bambi" were extended pieces unlike Suuns' previous works. In 2012, they were the curators for the Sonic City Festival in
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. Other festival performances included the National's ATP Festival, London's Village Underground, and Paris's Point Ephemere. The band also spent much of the year preparing to release their second album, ''Images Du Futur'', which they announced in November, and gearing up for the busy year ahead. They finished off 2012 with a month-long tour from mid-November through mid-December. The band kicked off the year with a January release of new music video "Edie's Dream" and a February release of the video for "2020". Their second album, ''Images Du Futur'', was released by
Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...
on March 5 (except in Canada on Secret City Records) in the middle of Suuns' international three-month tour featuring We Are Wolves and Plants and Animals. The Line of Best Fit describes the album: "''Images Du Futur'' is exciting in a way that few albums manage to be, dangerous and compelling like a first cigarette or fumbled sexual encounter, and nothing here quite seems real: these ten tracks exist in a half-light, a nocturnal fog a step removed from lucid thought. And a long, long way from anything routine." In June 2013, the album was longlisted for the
2013 Polaris Music Prize The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23, 2013
. Suuns and Jerusalem In My Heart released their self-titled album worldwide on April 14, 2015, and announced tour and festival dates. An ''Exclaim!'' interview states, "Recorded over a week in November 2012, the tracks mixed the strengths of both bands: the Eastern modes and drones plus the Arabic vocal delivered by Moumneh, and the keyboard arpeggios and incisive guitars of Suuns' Shemie and Joe Yarmush." In May 2015 the band began recording ''Hold/Still'' in Dallas, Texas with producer John Congleton. During the three-week recording session, Congleton encouraged the band to capture flawless live takes of each track, without use of overdubs. The album includes songs that the band had been working on for several years but never showed up on previous albums, including "Translate" and "Infinity". It was released on April 15, 2016, via Secretly Canadian. In November 2016, the band also curates their own program during the tenth Anniversary Edition of
Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. The festival, founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen, has ...
Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This curated program includes performances by amongst others
Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...
,
Alessandro Cortini Alessandro Cortini (born 24 May 1976) is an Italian musician best known for being the keyboard, guitar, and bass player in the industrial band Nine Inch Nails. Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles-based electronic-alternative band SO ...
, Patrick Higgins and Jerusalem in My Heart. On October 30, 2020, the band released their EP, ''
Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
'', via Secret City and
Joyful Noise Recordings Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...
. On September 3, 2021, the band released '' The Witness'' through Joyful Noise Recordings internationally and on Secret City Records in Canada. It is the follow-up full-length to 2018's ''Felt''. On June 9, 2021, ''
The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...
'' premiered the first single and video for "Witness Protection". Pitchfork hailed it as a breakthrough album for the group. O'Neill appears on
Charlotte Cornfield Charlotte Cornfield (born 1988 or 1989) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released four albums: ''Two Horses'' (2011), ''Future Snowbird'' (2016), ''The Shape of Your Name'' (2019) and ''Highs in the Minuses'' (2021). Early life Cornfiel ...
's album ''Highs in the Minuses'' and on Cedric Noel's LP ''Hangtime''. Episode five of the
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...
show ''
Outer Range ''Outer Range'' is an American science fiction neo-Western streaming television series created by Brian Watkins and starring Josh Brolin and Imogen Poots. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 15, 2022. In October 2022, the series was ren ...
'' and the trailer for ''
Three Thousand Years of Longing ''Three Thousand Years of Longing'' is a 2022 fantasy romantic drama film directed and produced by George Miller. Written by Miller and Augusta Gore, it is based on the short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" by A. S. Byatt and star ...
'' feature the Suuns song "2020".


Discography

Studio albums * ''Zeroes QC'' (2010),
Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...
* ''Images Du Futur'' (2013), Secretly Canadian * '' Hold/Still'' (2016), Secretly Canadian * ''
Felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
'' (2018) * '' The Witness'' (2021),
Joyful Noise Recordings Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...
and Secret City EP * ''
Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
'' (2020), Joyful Noise Recordings and Secret City Singles * "Bambi" b/w "Red Song" (2011), Secretly Canadian Collaborative albums * ''
Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart ''Suuns and Jerusalem in My Heart'' is a collaborative studio album by Canadian rock band Suuns and musical project Jerusalem In My Heart, led by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh. It was released on April 13, 2015, through the Secretly Canadian record label ...
'' (2015, with Jerusalem In My Heart)


References


External links


Official Website
* *
Label - Joyful Noise Recordings
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2006 Canadian indie rock groups Musical groups from Montreal Canadian electronic rock musical groups Canadian art rock groups Neo-psychedelia groups Secretly Canadian artists