In Love With The Extreme by Saturn And The Sun
Guitars without riffs, Ambient guitar music par excellence
From Melvins to Lustmord and Christopher Willits to Diamont Dancer, a loose but distinct thread connects guitar players who have used and abused their instrument in ways unconceived just twenty or thirty years ago.
Strumming no more!
Riffing no more!
Feedback no...
...err... well, perhaps feedback is the one remaining stronghold of the alternative modern guitar player? That's certainly the case with Saturn And The Sun and their deeply hypnotic new album In Love With The Extreme. The Swedish duo comprising, Joachim Nordwall and Henrik Rylander, share an experimental approach to their craft, violating guitars to make a growling, repetitive Ambient noise disguised as electronic music. Working together for more than a decade, both as Saturn And The Sun as well as part of the celebrated group The Skull Defekts, their music is built on a foundation of circular, ritualistic, monotonous rock music. It's essentially Ambient with guitars (not unlike Elektro Guzzi is Techno with guitars). Think of it as Guitambient™.
Four tracks, clocking in at a pleasant 38 minutes, wheedle their way deep into your psyche, a chilled vibe grips, long passages of rumbling feedback stretch out, whirling notes provide contrast, and on the title track, a steady rhythm underpins the muddy colours that incessantly circle in slow motion. Quietly powerful stuff.
- Rating: 8/10
- Listens: 22
- Highlight: Cross The Line
- Label: Ideal Recordings
- Release Date: 21st September 2018