Suishou No Fune - The Light Of Dark Night

Suishou No Fune - Till We Meet Again (You Returned Home To The Heavens) / A Rose Bloomed / You Look At The Night Sea


I started to write about this awhile ago but then got distracted and wrote about Sun Circle instead. Totally forgiveable, right? Especially because I'm doin' it now. I mean, it's not like I totally forgot about it or anything...

I've never heard Suishou No Fune until The Light Of Dark Night. It was my first proper introduction to them and I suggest, if you've never been introduced, this is where you should start. "But Justin..." you may ask. "How can you tell me where to start if you've only heard one of their records?" Valid question, I suppose. Although that sort of thing is not encouraged here on AGB. My word is law. No questions allowed.

I'd say start with Dark Night because it's fucking awesome, that's why. It's a live set recorded in Philly, one 42 minute track broken up into 3 songs (all new material, I think) that flow seamlessly into each other. I'm pretty sure there's no percussion whatsoever, making this all about the guitar drones, drifts, and waves.

The first song starts out with a dreamy soft guitar that is actually pretty unnerving. There's this weird tension, even when some guy comes in and throws out his soothing echoing voice. I feel like it should give me this nice and chill feeling but it does the exact opposite. It's kinda like mellow Boris just without the peace.

Throughout the set, the tension builds and it goes from a loud crunchy wall of distorted guitar fuzz, then receding back to the bizarro serene uneasiness. It is so so fucking cool. This is rock doom drone at it's best and I love it.

Like all things released on aRCHIVE, the packaging on this is super sweet. It's limited to 600 copies but there are still some available at various places if you look hard enough. I totally recommend Dark Night and it ensures that I will further explore Suishou's back catalogue.