Short Reviews [New Sun - 2016 - "Transitory"]

It took another five years for New Sun to return with their fifth, and currently most recent album. They had returned to core trio of Chris Trujillo (drums), Christopher Scott Cooper (guitars, vocals, keyboards, bass) and Alex Kley (bass) but this time had also brought in a large number of guests, just as they had with the third release, ‘Expectations’, including violinist Benito Cortez who had been involved with their second album some 18 years earlier. Here we find the band trying out some new ideas, expanding their musical offering but instead of forming parts of a whole, instead it feels more like the band are not sure what they are trying to achieve which means the lack of cohesion makes for a somewhat fragmented release. There are times when what they are doing is nothing short of superb, as the trio have been working together for more than 20 years by this time and have a great understanding of each other, but others where it just does not gel as it should. “The Beguiler” sounds as if it has come out of the New Romantic period of the early 80’s, with hints of Depeche Mode as well, and it is not something I expected from a prog band. True, bands need to keep pushing boundaries and moving in different directions, but there is always a risk of alienating fans and that is so far out of left field one has to wonder, “why?” But contrast that with the sheer brilliance of “Slipstream Day” which commences gently with an acoustic guitar and is lifted by a wonderful lead electric and soaring strings. It is one of my favourite songs ever by New Sun, simple in many ways, yet sheer delight. It is quite possible that this album requires more listening than I have time to give to it, but for me this is an album where I may return to it to play certain songs but doubt I will listen to the whole thing. Six years since this was released, although they have remixed both this and ‘Damage Done’ since then. I sincerely hope there is more to come from the band in the future, but I guess we will have to wait and see.