Sunglaciers are back with a new studio album, Spiritual Content, perhaps their best to date, and certainly my favourite. This fourth offering is a logical continuation of the Calgary band’s sonic evolution, while remaining fresh and innovative. Between heady post-punk litanies and meditative lulls, we find Sunglaciers’ appetite for contrasts, retro synths, a danceable groove, and a blend of multiple influences.
Drones and synth loops layer over catchy guitar melodies and incantatory post-punk vocals to create complex soundscapes, rewarding repeated listening and delivering effective indie rock. Here we have an album that appears less aggressive than its predecessors, without losing any of its punk verve.
Thus, on certain tracks such as “Dead Stop,” the left-field synths, organic sounds, and effective use of an almost hypnotic repetition will remind the listener of Stereolab’s pre-pop sound. A comparison that holds true on the melancholic “Starting to Come Back,” which also evokes the shoegaze of Panchiko, where the instruments slowly dissolve into an excellent, almost ambient conclusion, crafted with minute sonic details.
On other tracks, consider the abrasive punk energy of “Attention” and the over-the-top “Only Love” (whose chaotic vibe has a certain je ne sais quoi reminiscent of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard); it is energetic indie rock with psychedelic touches, made explosive by the preceding lulls, which punctuates the listening experience of Spiritual Content.
While variety is certainly present, one is never lost, as the post-punk framework ensures solid cohesion throughout.
All in all, the album runs for a total of 35 minutes that fly by in a flash, without ever feeling insufficient. The album’s pacing is masterful, built around the contrast between punk intensity and long passages of calm (sometimes flirting with ambient). I might have preferred the album’s final track, “Wait,” to be perhaps a touch more homogeneous, but let’s not quibble—it’s very good: the whole thing flows seamlessly, with each track seeming like a logical continuation of the one before.
The album’s greatest achievement boils down to two things: its effectiveness—you lose track of time—and its ability to combine stylistic coherence with a diversity of influences. The album echoes a tapestry of predecessors, from Joy Division to Yo La Tengo, but weaves them into a coherent whole that becomes its own. The terrain is familiar, but by no means uncharted. And it works!
Sunglaciers is a band worth checking out, and Spiritual Content is the latest in a series of excellent albums. Give it a listen. Even if it doesn’t grab you, you’ll have a good time, and if it does, you’ll find yourself coming back to it often.
