Images du futur

Images du futur

By blurring the lines between all their influences and freely changing their attack for each song, Montreal's Suuns continue to have fun with effect pedals and an unorthodox songwriting approach. Despite this freewheelin' worldview, a tune like "Mirror Mirror" packs a powerful, cohesive blow against the empire. Is it guitar rock? Is it synth rock? Do the mumbled, deliberately obscured vocals hide a gorgeous pop melody? Rare is the instrument that makes itself clear. Liam O'Neill serves up an unadulterated beat for the otherwise vague "Edie's Dream," but that's his job in the group: offering a steadying hand to a wandering ensemble. "2020" pastes together a nearly coherent track, but it actually excels as the arrangement varies from sparse notes cascading through the universe to forward-moving beats that suggest there's a pop band somewhere hiding behind the art-rock experiments. Had Pink Floyd made its way in the computer age, it likely would've chosen Suuns' path of computer-assisted sound painting. "Holocene City" leans on a classic rock guitar lick that eventually leads to gorgeous vocal moves and a quizzical keyboard line.

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