Review: Suturee – Skim The Surface

Back in 2008, I was given the opportunity to review the debut album from Suturee. Led by two Puerto Ricans, Julian Brau and Rebeccca Adorno, the duo captivated with their insouciant harmonies dovetailing perfectly with arrangements which straddled the boundaries of folk and shoegaze. As befits a group who have a distinctively lazy charm, the follow-up has taken another four years to produce and it sounds like they took their time over it too.

Initially, ‘Void’ seems to continue where the first album left off but now the production is grander and made up of new layers. At the song’s core are jangly guitars and the familiar languid harmonies from the two main protagonists. They may sound effortless and carefree but this belies the clever melodies underpinning the song. ‘Bleak’ builds slowly and gloriously before exploding into an effects-driven finale, whilst Brau and Adorno combine so beautifully for ‘In Spite Of” and ‘To Lend’, it’s hard to think of a pair of male/female vocals being so in tune with each other. Now as a four piece, the group also incorporate brass and strings into their portfolio and even if they lose a little dynamism towards the end of the record, the moodiness they generate is unerringly seductive right up to the command to “calm down now” on final track ‘Fell’.

Suturee have been compared to Beach House amongst others and it’s a favourable connection they have but whereas that band are bullish in their approach to melodrama, Suturee are more introverted in their approach and yet no less effective in delivering the end product. So, definitely a band who have more depth beneath the surface then.

Web Sites:
Suturee Official Site
Suturee Bandcamp

Further Listening:
Beach House, Low