My previous encounter with the Ruby Suns didn’t manage to leave a lasting impression. So, when I learnt that the Auckland based, pop trio had a new release out, I made sure to work my way as to avoid the record, no matter how highly people spoke of them. But obviously, that only lasted for so long, because boy oh boy, do I regret not listening to them sooner.Sea Lion is the follow up to their 2005’s self-titled debut, offering a batch of ten fresh songs formulated to ooze a strikingly wondrous world-music quality with generous sums of influences dissected from the African, Polynesian, and South Pacific sights and sounds. But it’s sunny psychedelic pop music that the band truly carves out in this record, sometimes emanating the tones of folk experimental a la Animal Collective, while other times, experiments are substituted to settle for shoegazey, twee pop instead. Included in the dazzling ten song selection is the wistful, woozy collage opener, ‘Blue Penguin’, the joyous and buoyant, ‘Tane Mahuta’ that’s sung entirely in Maori, and the hypnotic, dreamy, indie pop, ‘There are Birds’.
But the real masterpiece goes to the luminous, spellbinding, breathtaking beauty of (though inopportunely named) ‘Kenya Dig It?’ giving the record, its most ethereal experiences yet. Remember how Nick Hornby wrote in his book about Dave Egger’s theory, that we play songs over and over because we have to ‘solve’ them? Well, I can’t seem to stop listening to this tune, because I’m still not quite done solving it. And of course, because it’s also an undeniably brilliant tune.
Anyway, because I’m more of this type of person, so I highly recommend listening to this one right here:
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But also because the song above doesn’t truly indicate the band’s music, and that it would be a huge disservice to them, I’ve decided to post these up as well.
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