At the tail end of 2018, Montreal art-rockers Suuns embarked on a West Coast U.S. tour, which would mark their final dates with founding member Max Henry. To commemorate the last performances with their original lineup, the band have surprise released two live albums, Live in San Jose and Live in San Diego, from the tour.
In a statement to Exclaim!, member Joe Yarmush said about the two albums, "We've always felt our live show was our strong suit. Like any great band, we stretch and push our recorded material into different territories live."
While there is some overlap between the tracklists — including tracks "Control," "Instrument," "2020," "Pie IX" and "Edie's Dream" — Yarmush states that the two sets are very different. "Some songs cross over between the nights, but the emotions were different. San Diego is where the original lineup of Suuns ended (sort of), and it's apparent in how bombastic we're playing. We just wanted to honour the twelve years we spent as a band touring the world."
The two live albums mark the start of what appears to be a fertile time for Suuns, telling Exclaim! that "more live recordings will be coming out in next few weeks, early ones and collaborative ones," and sharing details about the band's forthcoming studio album.
According to Yarmush, Suuns' new album is "mostly recorded" but is currently on hold due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, which has split up band members and personnel, including member Ben Shemie in Paris and producer Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes at his ranch.
"We're not good at working on records remotely, so we'll hopefully be able to sprinkle the finishing spices on this one by the summer. We're trying to keep busy by experimenting with sounds and staring at screens like everyone else hoping this nightmare ends soon," says Yarmush.
The forthcoming album will be the band's first studio album not released by Secretly Canadian, which was the band's label for nearly a decade. The record is also set to feature appearances from Max Henry and Mathieu Charbonneau.
Suuns' last studio album was 2018's Felt, and they self-released a split 7-inch with Blonde Redhead in December 2019.
Listen to Live in San Jose and Live in San Diego below.
In a statement to Exclaim!, member Joe Yarmush said about the two albums, "We've always felt our live show was our strong suit. Like any great band, we stretch and push our recorded material into different territories live."
While there is some overlap between the tracklists — including tracks "Control," "Instrument," "2020," "Pie IX" and "Edie's Dream" — Yarmush states that the two sets are very different. "Some songs cross over between the nights, but the emotions were different. San Diego is where the original lineup of Suuns ended (sort of), and it's apparent in how bombastic we're playing. We just wanted to honour the twelve years we spent as a band touring the world."
The two live albums mark the start of what appears to be a fertile time for Suuns, telling Exclaim! that "more live recordings will be coming out in next few weeks, early ones and collaborative ones," and sharing details about the band's forthcoming studio album.
According to Yarmush, Suuns' new album is "mostly recorded" but is currently on hold due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, which has split up band members and personnel, including member Ben Shemie in Paris and producer Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes at his ranch.
"We're not good at working on records remotely, so we'll hopefully be able to sprinkle the finishing spices on this one by the summer. We're trying to keep busy by experimenting with sounds and staring at screens like everyone else hoping this nightmare ends soon," says Yarmush.
The forthcoming album will be the band's first studio album not released by Secretly Canadian, which was the band's label for nearly a decade. The record is also set to feature appearances from Max Henry and Mathieu Charbonneau.
Suuns' last studio album was 2018's Felt, and they self-released a split 7-inch with Blonde Redhead in December 2019.
Listen to Live in San Jose and Live in San Diego below.