somesurprises - Perseids (2024)

"By patiently working around the fringes of shoegaze and dream pop, somesurprises finds itself a form that’s unbeholden to the times or trends."
- Bandcamp Album of the Day, by Ben Salmon

"Seattle band somesurprises return with lofty, pretty dream pop that recalls the dissonant beauty of Broadcast, Grouper, and MBV." - Bandcamp Daily

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The return of somesurprises takes the form of Perseids, a full length LP, and their first new music in 5 years. More than just a memorable record, it is unquestionably the band’s finest moment. Led by founding member Natasha El-Sergany, Perseids is not a reinvention of the group’s sound, it is the perfecting of it.

Within seconds of album opener “Be Reasonable,” El-Sergany’s rich, commanding vocal arrives, galactic in size and unearthly in nature. Longtime fans of the project have found themselves entranced by her delivery, as it is a voice that is not only heard but one that seems to inhabit you. The album’s first track feels almost like an incantation as much as a song, and one gets the impression that she may be making a plea to the entire world with it.

Yet even with El-Sergany’s vocals at center stage, the band's instrumentalists don't hold back. Regardless of tempo or feel, the rhythm section is perpetually locked in and the guitar leads ring out energetically. Longtime member Josh Medina compliments the songs with tasteful applications of guitar and synth, while bassist Laura Seniow and drummer Nico Sophiea carry things with deceptively complex grooves. Also featured are two very special guests, composer Jessika Kenney (Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room) and Lori Goldston (Nirvana, Earth) who supply vital contributions to the album.

The Seattle band captures dynamics on these recordings that are frequently missing in contemporary rock, with songs like “Bodymind” and “Why I Stay” featuring giant swells of sound. But just as often as they know when to dial things up, they similarly know when to slow things down. Tracks like the hazy “Snakes and Ladders” and the quietly joyous “(Untitled)” provide the album with natural breathing space between its grander gestures.

It’s a record packed with striking moments, like the unforgettable poem recitation by Jessika Kenney on the album’s title track. The poem, interpreted by Kenney from the original by Hafez, describes the image of meteors in Islamic spiritual tradition, which symbolize the striking down of demons from the heavens in the same way that poetry and art have the power to transform our wounds and struggles into new, stronger narratives. Though written as an ode to this power, Perseids may itself succeed in summoning meteors of its own.

Keen ears might hear traces of Ash Ra Tempel, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Grouper, Mazzy Star, or even Amon Düül II in the music, but as quickly as the familiar vibes appear, they vanish, dissolving into the singular sound that the band has crafted for themselves. While there are surely elements of shoegaze, psych, and dreampop here, somesurprises are less concerned with genre. With songs this pure, the identification of specific styles becomes irrelevant. Indeed, they are ultimately just drops in the ocean of somesurprises’ sound.

Tracklist:
1.01 - somesurprises - Be Reasonable (6:30)
1.02 - somesurprises - Bodymind (4:16)
1.03 - somesurprises - Why I Stay (4:02)
1.04 - somesurprises - Snakes and Ladders (4:54)
1.05 - somesurprises - Dark Victory (2:12)
1.06 - somesurprises - Black Field (3:50)
1.07 - somesurprises - Ship Circles (3:00)
1.08 - somesurprises - Untitled (2:05)
1.09 - somesurprises - Perseids (8:09)