Review: SUMAC And Moor Mother ‘The Film’
After giving this a few listens, I can confirm that SUMAC are another band that is going to be filed under the heading of ‘I had no idea who they were or what they sounded like, but OMFG, why haven’t I heard them before?’
I really don’t know where to start with it, as I’ve listened to the eight songs several times now, and there is so much happening that I discover new intricacies in the music each time.
Let’s start at the beginning. Who are they? SUMAC is guitarist/song-writer Aaron Turner, playing synths and drums is Nick Yacyshyn, with Brian Cook on bass, and they’ve collaborated with award winning, avant jazz poet, scholar, activist and punk rocker Moor Mother, to create hypnotic, sparse, yet dense sonic soundscapes, that are both captivating and mysterious.
The Film is split into different scenes, with the narrative unfolding in front of you, but it stretches and pulls you in different directions. The band have said that it was ‘a bit different from what they normally do’ and you can sense that on Scene 1. Moor Mother’s spoken word vocal performance helps to create a dark and sinister environment, aided by textured guitars, you can feel their pain and suffering.
Scene 2: The Run begins with the words ‘I was running’ as the cataclysmic sounds reverberate with incessant banging and distorted guitar, creating a primitive utopia. It’s twelve minutes that test your brain capacity to the fullest, but one that you can’t hide or shy away from.
Moor Mother’s spoken word vocal performance helps to create a dark and sinister environment, aided by textured guitars, you can feel their pain and suffering…
Interspersing the scenes are snippets of distortion filled insights into the minds of the band, with Hard Truth being the first eerie listening to appear. Scene 3 has a more melodic and cathartic feel to it, that the band describe as ‘a safe space where we can all feel new/manufacturing via smoke screen/hiding’ and allows Moor Mother to rap out her lyrics with more authority and power. It’s about now that you get that sense of familiarity with the background of SUMAC, as the intensity wouldn’t have been out of place with Turner’s previous band, ISIS.
There is tension all around Scene 4 with Moor Mother repeating ‘Nobody told me’ as the haunting, darker melody works so well alongside the additional vocals of Sovie. It left me with a chill running down my spine at times, before Camera continues to bludgeon away at the listener with a cacophony of samples, the freestyle drums and guitars bounce around in the background as the blistering bassline glues it all together.
The Truth is Out There pulls you closer back in with a more tender vocal on offering before you get sixteen minutes of thunderous ferocity on Scene 5: Breathing Fire. Moor Mother tells you to ‘Take warning, take caution’ as the more melodic riff envelops the song and it takes on its own persona. It builds and builds into something staggeringly wonderful, almost as if the stars have all aligned perfectly, to create the future of music, albeit right here, right now.
Label: Thrill Jockey Records
SUMAC: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Moor Mother: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Matthew Williams
