Ah, here’s my chance to put my money where my mouth is. I berated the struggling self-starters Avelar for aping other modern bands' sounds and along comes the Jessamine-aping Suntan. They're a little bit less dark than Jessamine, but they use droning organs in a similar way. So what's it gonna be then? Am I gonna turn around and tout another band of imitators in a criminally hypocritical fashion? Am I a biased journalist? Yes and no. I may not be all the way on board with supremely-hyped acts like MF Doom's Viktor Vaughn, but I can recognize the greatness inherent in Vaudeville Villain. Then you get a release like the new Jane's Addiction where you want so badly to dig it like you dug Ritual de lo Habitual and Nothing's Shocking years ago, but something just stinks.
That said, Suntan feels just right to these ears. Sure there are about a jillion bands doing the same Velvet Underground/Spacemen 3/Jesus and Mary Chain corpse-fucking these days, but Suntan are in such command of their claim on these sounds that it's immensely difficult to dismiss them. I can't think of one original thing about this band, but I can tell you that they're better at this type of thing than, say, The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or the most recent incarnation of Spiritualized.
If you're in the know and have an affinity for the space rock sound, you could do a lot worse than Send You Home. What you've got here are seven sprawling, seething space rock epics that never misfire. So life will go on if you miss out on Suntan, but they're definitely far from disposable. Like Paik's The Orson Fader, it's the sort of sleeper monolithic rock record that can do you good, depending on your affinity for slow burn-to-raging guitar squalls.
1. Rising For You
2. The Next ones
3. I Can Only Give You Everything
4. Wiles/Lecube Interlude
5. King Felix
6. Every Night
7. Send You Home: Driver/Ghost Rites/Home
More about: Suntan
