Old school folk songs centred on the moral higher ground and calling for compassion and honesty seem impossibly quaint in our more cynical age. A new kind protest music is necessary and this impressive album slows one way forward.
SUMAC is the powerhouse Canadian trio of Aaron Turner (guitarist/song-writer), Nick Yacyshyn (synth and drums), and Brian Cook (bass) who channel chaos into controlled metal mayhem
The politically charged rapping of Moor Mother have an air of anger and desperation that blends well with the sludge-drone themes to an imaginary film. “I want my breath back – No more lies sold cheap – We don’t believe” she intones with a genuine sense of urgency on the album opener Scene I.
Moor Mother delivers fuck you oppositional tirades to the notion of obedience, complaisance or passivity in the face of corporate greed and manipulation. They are part of the sonic equivalent of a slow-moving juggernaut hurtling down a freeway of broken dreams.
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The textures are raw, dense and intense. The sentiments are fiercely vengeful and built around the premise that The Truth Is Out There and needs to be fought for.
“I’ll see you on the other side” is the pledge on Scene 5: Breathing Fire. This is either promise or a threat depending on which side of history you subscribe to. “This ain’t no manifesto”
An essential soundtrack album for our times.
Listen at Bandcamp
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