Ouri, Dogo Suicide, NULL/VØID, and Morning Bun
Ouri - Daisy Cutter
Montreal multi-instrumentalist and sound designer, Ouri returns four years removed from the Polaris Prize short-listed Frame of a Fauna. On Daisy Cutter, Ouri crafts rich textures of downtempo electronic avantgarde sounds that are punctuated with analog flourishes and Ouri’s gorgeous vocals. It’s an undefinable record genre-wise leading my mind to describing it as experimental but that doesn’t do it justice. Daisy Cutter is a deep listening experience that sounds deliberate and precise. You’ll want to reserve listening to this until you can dive in with your head phones.
Dogo Suicide - TRISTESSE LUCRATIVE
From Quebec City, Dogo Suicide’s new album is as tricky to define as Ouri’s Daisy Cutter (see above). It’s loud and abrasive one minute but then catchy and pop-forward another. The band leans heavily on post-hardcore and noise but then swerves into catchy alternative-rock fit for the F.M. radio dial. The descriptor that comes to mind is if Malajube and METZ were duelling for your attention from separate stages at a festival. Even wilder are moments when the band goes rogue with full-on math-rock. It’s wild.
NULL/VØID - Broken Hearted Restless Sleeping
Edmonton’s NULL/VØID are slowing gathering steam in their hometown. Their new EP opens with a bang, post-punk with shoegazy guitar-fuzz hammer you before they go into an eight minute psychedelic instrumental track. They move to a Cure-esque 80s rocker which is followed by the psych-doom sludge of “North Evil”, the best track on the EP. All four songs are very strong but you can tell they’re still trying to find an identity and when they do, expect great things!
Morning Bun - Antidune
Morning Bun is the project from Vancouver’s Geoffo Reith. Antidune, the debut album is a DIY affair with Reith tackling the recording, mixing and mastering. From the albums opening track it’s apparent the Reith has a knack for writing songs that can quickly grab your attention. Lying somewhere in the realm of folk-pop and alt-pop these songs are catchy without ever being bombastic. There’s a subtly that’s very charming and has kept me listening.
