Sun Stabbed - The World Upside Down [peasant magik]

Sun Stabbed are a guitar wielding French duo that I first came across due to a lovely little screen printed 7” released by Doubtful Sounds a little while back. Other than that single and this tape I’m not aware of any other releases. The two tracks have similar and opposite titles: The False is a Moment of the True and The True is a Moment of the False respectively, and the music of each is equally similar, if not containing the same inverted logic . The first kicks off with a low-passed guitar feedback drone not dissimilar to latter-day Yellow Swans or Double Leopards, or if you prefer the wails of lost souls resonating in underground caverns. It pendulums back and forth through a regular phase, with gentle chirrups of cracked circuitry and other buzzing interferences occasionally tossed on top. When the drone bed recedes to the background, barely audible the pair fleck the resulting space with a variety of drips, drizzles and splurges. Here, letting go of the constancy that dominates the tape is to my mind its strongest moment as they slowly ramp up the energy with an interplay continually on the brink of collapse. This is the most event-heavy section, making nice use of the dynamic range from abusive blurts to diminutive shrieks. The gradual wind down works a treat, making the impact of stomped boxes and struck strings that brings in the final section all the greater, eventually bringing us full circle to much the same territory of the opening. Really nice piece.

Side B works with much the same palette, with the notable addition of regonisable guitar plucks scattered around. The whole track is pinned together firmly with a mid-range surge whose swelling and shrinking defines the energy of the piece. Again this is offset with occasional more gestural actions. The form is also alike to the A-side, with a quiet section in the middle - this time populated by some almost Keith Rowe-ish scrabbles alongside a remaining wisp of feedback. It’s difficult to say why when the contents are so similar this side is much less satisfying, possibly it’s the flatness of the central tone. Although when this is dispensed with, the energy produced by the great playing around it, vanishes and the closing third drifts past fairly featurelessly.

peasant magik