ALBUM REVIEW: Sun Voyager – Sun Voyager
With their psychedelic garage rock riffs reverberating off of the sleek, shining windows of the New York metropolis, SUN VOYAGER‘s candescent rays beam down on you with a fuzzy and familiar warmth. After a significant period of extermination and refinement, SUN VOYAGER’s second and self-titled album is a balls out journey into the bombastic, ludicrous and unpredictable world of psychedelic jam bands. Bringing in elements from across the rock spectrum and composing songs with clear cohesion and chemistry, there is a hearty, old school vibe and passion at the core of Sun Voyager. So, buckle up and ride the reverb waves to the centre of the sun.
As you sit back and listen to Sun Voyager you can’t help but feel like you’re accompanying the band in a 1970s Cadillac V8 Eldorado on a journey through space, occasionally dizzying yourself in planetary orbits. The effortless dynamic shifts from powerful riffing to spacey psychedelia keeps you on your toes as you bask in the old school feel of the album. SUN VOYAGER‘s quest to improve their musical spontaneity has ultimately paid off on their sophomore album. There are moments where you can feel the chemistry of a band that are truly on the same page, as each element comes together with ease, which is a remarkable achievement for a second album. As unpredictable as the music is, the lyrical themes are just as capricious, ranging from eternal doom to kicking metaphorical ass and falling in love. With songs being born out of 15-minute voice note jams, this album is a testament the power of getting in a room together as a band and connecting through unpremeditated ideas, soaking in the vibes of the moment to see what you come up with.
Despite being from New York, one thing SUN VOYAGER have really nailed down is the desert rock elements of their sound. You could easily be fooled into thinking that they had come from the arid plains of the dust bowl and not the vast metropolis of the Big Apple or its leafy suburbs. Yet it’s not all relaxing in the pounding heat of the desert sun; there is still a sense of urgency in the band’s riffing. Over the seven tracks there is action, adventure and spaced out moments that have you fully immersed in SUN VOYAGER’s captivating jamming alongside the warm, vintage sounding production.
Sun Voyager carries forward some of the core elements from the band’s 2018 debut album Seismic Vibes, but expands them with significantly more reverb and wah pedals. This gives the album an interesting dualistic element, as the vocals sound spacey, trippy and mesmeric and the riffs behind it are dirty, grimy and ballsy. Although the two things are complete contrasts there is a captivating cohesiveness. Given the significant reverb on the vocals, it sounds as if they have made a home in every corner of your skull, omnipresent and mind blowing. Whilst easy to get lost in anatomical imagery, ultimately SUN VOYAGER have created an all encompassing album with a fizzing intensity.
Opening up the album with God Is Dead II, the band wave good bye to the Seismic Vibes era with a song that is more uptempo than God Is Dead and shows us the first developments in the band’s sound with a part two song that actually sounds like a part two song. Bombastic drums and thunderous riffing underpin anthemic vocal harmonies as the album springs into life. Run For You carries on the high energy, bass and guitar working in harmony to deliver a face pounding riff. Some Strange is an oddly eerie track that starts to bring in the psychedelic elements of the album, bringing in crazy synthesisers and catchy bass grooves.
Rip The Sky brings the energy up again, with fuzz-drenched vibes which are still rooted in the psychedelic, before the album transitions into To Hell We Ride. An even more energetic track that is all out rock ‘n’ roll, with a pounding 4/4 rock rhythm and an incredibly catchy riff interjected by rock organ stabs, it is a wonderfully chaotic and lively song. Feeling Alright goes full flower power; spacey, trippy and hypnotic, it serves as the calm before the storm. After the spacey excursion, the album’s final flourish comes in the form of The Vision, which closes the album much like how God Is Dead II opened it, in a blaze of rock fury.
With an inordinate amount of reverb and wah, SUN VOYAGER have pushed their experimentalism to the max, utilising organic jam sessions to create an album that effortlessly ebbs and flows whilst showing off the band’s passion and chemistry for their music. The band have demonstrated that stepping outside the confines and methods of modern songwriting presents a world of endless creative opportunity.
Rating: 8/10
Sun Voyager is set for release on October 7th via Ripple Music.
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