| REVIEWS
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HIROSHIMA
YEAH!, Issue #71, January 2011
Here’s MORE Dan Susnara!
His new solo disc kicks off with ominous thunder storm effects that
bleed into the gloomy, doomy “Empty Zone”, a song that
manages to sound a bit like both Swans AND the Smiths (although
that’s mainly the Johnny Marr-esque fingerpicking at the end)…
an impressive feat! “Take a Year Off” is a way cool
I’ve-been-fired-but-it’s-okay-and-one-day-I-will-have-my-REVENGE
rocker while “The Luck of the Pineapple” tells the tale
of an unnamed past-his-best rock star who has “name-dropping,
necrophiliac lobotomies masquerading as friends”… could
be about almost ANYONE, really! “Something Pure” is
the kind of song you wish could be heard by all those school kids
who end up killing themselves due to bullying; it’s got WISE
lyrics like “You’re a reflection of what they fear most
/ When you’re just being yourself” and “Why measure
up to the rules they flop on you?” When I was at school, I
had the Smiths (if I can get away with mentioning them TWICE in
one review?) to bolster me through the JOYS of being verbally abused
on a daily basis JUST ‘cause I wasn’t a desperate-to-fit-in
CLONE. It’s a fab song. “Confusing Planes with Stars”
is a weird one for me to review considering that Dan used a couple
of my own poems for lyrics, but I like what he’s done and
it’s always a thrill to hear someone else singing words that
you wrote (and especially flattering in this case because Dan’s
own lyrics are REALLY fucking good). “Cantina” is like
a short story set to music, with “translucent puppet-like
forms (that) dance in abandoned parks” and “Murdertown
mercies and angels gone wrong”, cool backing vocals and an
unsettling coda. “My Invisible Friend” is another great
song about home-recording (see the above review of the Micky/Dan
single), although this is the DARK side of the proverbial coin,
and includes heartfelt lyrics like “Can you relate? Do you
recoil? Do you even react at all?” Again, I can TOTALLY relate…
“Path” is a lovely acoustic song about a walk in the
woods that’s reminiscent of Espers at their best; so, kinda
eerie, mysterious and pagany, then. “Judy from the Bar”
is the album’s most upbeat number, a jaunty little tale of
the accidental murder of an ex-girlfriend (which I HOPE is fiction,
Dan!?!). It’s a fantastic and engaging tale, although I don’t
quite get the final line, “I am Thursday”. Hmmm…
what CAN it possibly mean? The final track, “Drugboy”,
is a moody psychedelic epic featuring spoken-word snippets from
someone called the Behemoth and it rounds off a VERY nice album
VERY nicely. As ever, this CD-R includes a lyric booklet with colour
pics, so kindly send Dan some cash and a polite letter to secure
yourself a copy.
ROCKTOBER MAGAZINE, Issue #49
Vent is Susnara's darkest, weirdest, closest to psychedelia
recording yet. It would be depressing if it wasn't so inspiring
how much better he keeps getting.
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