Sunn O))) @ QMU, Glasgow (25th October 2019)

with: Anna Von Hausswolff

Hosted by: PCL Presents

Words and Photos:

Joanne Gray

Upon delving into slower and heavier territories of music more than a few years ago, I was instantly intrigued by Sunn O))) as a band. I had heard a lot about how intense their live show was due to it prompting extreme and sometimes violent physical reactions from people across the globe. As such, I have been pretty desperate to experience this for myself for years to see if the stories were true.

Missing one of their rare visits to Glasgow back in 2017, I was exceptionally stoked to find out that the Seattle drone-pioneers Sunn O))) would be coming back to play the decently sized QMU. So I bought myself a ticket. Cue the mixed feelings of excitement and nerves that this brought about with it. And this would continue right up until gig day itself. Gulp. 

_______________

Somewhat easing those conflicting feelings though, the support act Anna Von Hausswolff was neither as mythical or as intense as what was to come. But she did set up the scene very nicely for the creative soundscape that lay ahead. Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden; the multi-instrumentalist (and daughter of the equally experimental musician Carl Michael) was someone I had heard being talked about with high praise among post-rock and experimental circles, but I had never really listened to myself. After this performance, I will definitely be delving further into her discography however. 

Playing (what seemed to be) only three songs which were all from last year's album, Dead Magic, this was an incredibly fascinating and invigorating set to watch. Opening proceedings was ’Källans äteruppståndelse’, an atmospheric 7 minute track which saw the construction of a wonderfully multi-layered and gorgeous ambient flow between the bass, synths and pipe organ that would gradually and expertly swell over several minutes. Halfway through the track, Von Hausswolff would then enter with lusciously soft and delicate vocals which would compliment the soothing musical tones perfectly. Towards the end of the track, the band would then evoke the ebb and flow of a wave hitting against a cliff face by building a slight sense of tension to proceedings. Drummer Ulrick Ording fluttered on the crash cymbal using soft tipped sticks while background synthesised noise increased slightly and the bass rumbled through the audience. 

This was a wonderfully elegant way to start their set, but also a brave choice for keeping up audience interest as a support band. Thankfully, the crowd (which was filling up all the way through the song) was incredibly attentive and seemed to greatly appreciate the level of craft that was on show here. I suppose opening for a challenging band like Sunn O))) helps with that, but I won't take that away from Von Hausswolff here as this was clearly a very different band from what was to follow. Especially in terms of their sonic variety. 

This became quickly evident when the next song, 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra’, opened with some slightly ominous sounding low end drum beats and bell sounds. Von Hausswolff then picked up a guitar and provided a simple but incredibly effective bending riff alongside a fuzzed up bassline that got heads bopping in time around me. Alongside this more aggressive sounding track, the frontwoman went into a completely different vocal territory, providing some dramatic Kate Bush-esque wailing and screeching which really gave the song a sense that the whole thing could come unhinged at any point. This would obviously never happen though, due to how tight and in sync the band were. Particular shout out to the rhythm section here, who were utterly locked into such a great groove while the drummer attacked the kit with great conviction.

'Ugly and Vengeful' would then close things off in a particularly epic way through the course of its 16 minute duration. Striking a balance between ambient and tension filled noise, the first few minutes saw some high pitched humming synths underpin some slight clanging noises before some eerie instrumentals came in alongside Von Hausswolff's mournfully gothic, and rather creepy sounding voice. Leaving these vocals to become fully exposed due to the lack of other instrumentation at several points, the fragility and emotion of the singer gripped the entire room around me. It wasn't long before the sinister nature of the song built up once more again though. Upon reaching the halfway mark, the vibe was almost nightmarish but somehow managed to still feel utterly beautiful. 

Then the mood kicked into a different gear with some Middle Eastern-esque wailing punching alongside the powerful theatrical soundscape surrounding it. More chaos would then be injected with the building up of a wall of noise and an escalating drum beat and the intensity of a punchy fuzzed up hypnotic bass line. The Cure's 'The Caterpillar' was brought to mind then as the keys bounced erratically up and down. A lively Middle Eastern rhythm then increased the energy of the song until the pounding drums and bass brought the song to its dramatic conclusion. If you had told me at the time that this song was over 16 minutes long, I'd have struggled to believe you. The whole thing was such an engaging experience, I felt like it was merely a few minutes. 

And that feeling could be extended to their short set. As the band received rapturous applause, briefly thanked the crowd and walked offstage, I felt like the set had rushed by in a flash and was almost expecting the band to play another song. Upon listening to the band a bit in the time since the gig, I've only become more impressed by the increased presence and tightness of the Von Hausswolff and co. in the live environment and I will certainly be checking out the rest of their material in the future. 

If you're a fan of experimental music of any kind, I would recommend you do as well if you haven't already. Glorious stuff. 

_______________

This wouldn't be the last we would hear of Anna Von Hausswolff during the night though. Accompanying our wait for Sunn O))), the band selected some recording of the previous band's songs instead of the usual random playlist of rock and metal tunes. It was already clear from this fact alone that this was going to be a set filled with mystery and atmosphere. But this was only the beginning. About 20 minutes before the band were due to come on, fog began to bellow out onto the stage in volumes I've never seen before at an indoor show. As the white smoke filled up the entire room from front to back, the aim of total immersion was complete (alongside some coughing from similarly sensitive lungs as mine), and the show was about to begin. Pressed up between the sound desk and the incredibly crowded room in front of me, I could already feel the sense of claustrophobia building before the band were even onstage. 

But yet again, that was only the beginning. Signalled by a changing colour of lights (which would give the illusion of colourful fog), the first note would come from the band.

Instantly there was a collective squirm which shot through the air. Even though the vast majority of people had earplugs in (god help those who didn't), there was a clear sense of discomfort and awe which could be seen upon the faces of people around me. Many have tried to describe the feeling of Sunn O))) playing in the live environment. I don't think it's possible to accurately convey quite how it feels to be in that situation without it sounding hyperbolic. Barely anything would be able to cover the sheer intensity of the sound that was engulfing the room directly from those tube amps better than being there yourself. But as I've committed to writing a review about this show, I've got to at least give it a shot...

The closest thing I can use to describe the sound of the droning metal riffs is the sensation of the sound be entirely absorbed by your body. Like those normal vibrations at gigs that sometimes manage to go up through the floor or punch directly into your chest, but scaled up to affect your entire body. Standing almost entirely still, I could feel the sound vibrating through the air, all up my legs, into my chest, up to my head and back down into my arms. Within a few minutes, I felt like moving was a chore, as the air felt so heavy with the noise. I can particularly remember the feeling of moving my fingers and feeling like the sound was a solid object that I could hold onto. Adding to this was the fact that you could barely see anything around you other than the people to your immediate periphery. It felt like you were almost entirely alone, and were being suffocated by the sound as it simultaneously battered you from the outside and expanded out from inside your body. As one rumbling drone moved into another, you could almost feel the air pressure change, giving you an almost disorientating feeling that the room was moving around you. 

And for the first twenty or twenty five minutes of the set, my senses tried to get used to this confusing experience. I could feel my discomfort as times manifesting itself with my body moving slightly to avoid particularly affecting notes. At times I would feel paranoid that my earplugs were doing nothing to protect my ears from such volume. Looking around me, there were certainly others in the same position. I could see people trying to push their earplugs in even more or signalling over to their friends how insane this was. And I could definitely share that sentiment. 

So much so that by the time the first song (I believe it may have been 'Aurora' or 'Novae' from this year's Life Metal... but honestly, how can one really tell?) ended abruptly twenty or so minutes into the set and the band left the stage, I felt a distinct sense of relief after I regained my sense of time and space. After waiting for a few minutes for the next song to start, it became clear that the venue was having some sort of issue. Perhaps there was some sort of a sound issue, or perhaps the smoke alarms had went off (as they had done with the Behemoth gig earlier this year). No one ever came out to explain what happened here, but as had been the case with that last gig, there was a clear disturbance in the show. This resulting in there being a good 5 or 10 minute wait before the band would emerge onto the stage again. Ah, the good old QMU... 

One positive thing about this event though, was that we could take the chance to move to a different part of the room to experience the remainder of the set. The sheer intensity of the sound, and the crowded nature of where we were standing, had left my back absolutely killing me. It was therefore another relief to find that the raised platform at the back of the room was a lot emptier. And what a difference this made. As the fog billowed out once more to top up the depleting sense of mystique, the band came out once again. But this time I could actually see the hooded figures onstage for the first time. I know for certain that three of these people were the core members of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson on guitars, alongside long time collaborator Tos Niewenhuizen. 

The remaining two or three current touring members who were onstage are only referred to as "invited special guests" by the band though, so I'm not sure who else was there. Due to the fact that the band were touring on the back of the latest album Life Metal, which didn't feature any main vocalist, this meant that the long-term session vocalist Attila Csihar (of Mayhem fame) was also absent here. This more instrumental approach would've given a completely different vibe to seeing the band last time they were here, I imagine. I have heard that the vocalist had lasers shooting from his fingers during that show, and an odd mirror mask which reflected light in interesting ways as well.

Instead here, what you could see onstage was the glimpse of figures amongst the fog who would then vanish and reappear depending on the intensity of the smoke. Going into what seemed to be the third song, the light show really became a glorious sight to witness, as the differing colours gave the impression of swirling air that was like candyfloss floating and mixing. I believe this occurred during a Life Metal song once again (perhaps 'Troubled Air'), as the visuals evoked particularly strong parallels to that bright and distinctive album cover. The comparative sense of joy which accompanied this song through the more layered, almost major key instrumentation towards the end of the song also meant that this would feel like the most "comfortable" section of the set. As a result, it also felt like I was (perhaps) finally enjoying myself? 

This felt like a bit of a fleeting moment however, as the next particularly intense section of the set totally left me feeling exhausted and sore. Sitting on the floor at the back of the room and closing my eyes seemed to help for a time. I couldn't see what was going on around me, but I could certainly feel the feedback of the notes just as clearly rippling through my body as before. The wall behind me seemed to struggle to contain the volume inside the building. During the next song or so, more people started to fill the back section and started to trip over me when they apparently were walking in a daze from one section to another. Alongside this, one particular moment in a song left my head feeling like it was being crushed by the sound in a more intense way than you would experience air pressure when taking off on a plane. With these two things in mind, I decided I should probably stand up to watch the remaining part of the show, to see if this helped my situation.

If my memory serves me right, this left two songs left for the band to play during this hour and a half long set. At this point, you could almost see everything that was going on onstage. This was evidently on purpose, as one hooded member stood in the middle of the stage brandishing a trombone. After what felt like an eternity of long colossal and earth rumbling note changes, the trombonist started to play. Adding a slight air of majestic hopefulness to the dense sound around it, the sonically distinct sound simultaneously punched through the swampy air, while helping to build up the feeling of weight. With the central stage light focused on this figure while he played, this song felt like the centrepiece of a set which had been building up to this exact moment. 

Reaching the climax of the entire experience however much longer later, both guitarists and the bassist lifted their instruments on top of their heads and raised a fist out to the crowd in a rare moment of interactivity. Keeping the feedback loop going, each member would place their instrument on top of their amplifiers in turn, holding their arms up triumphantly as the sound continued without them. After each guitar was on their respective amps, the crowd seemed to awaken from their stupor and began to realise that the show was ending. With one final drone, the last notes faded out, leaving only the members onstage to break character slightly and receive response from the audience. Perhaps it was the sheer contrast of hearing people once more rather than intense dirge, but I did feel like that was some of the most enthusiastically unified cheering I've heard at a gig before. And to be honest, I understand this entirely.

I'm not exactly sure whether I could say that I "enjoyed" the experience as a whole, as I more often than not felt physically challenged and assaulted in a manner that left me feeling disorientated and uncomfortable. Nor could I say that this even felt like a conventional gig. It was more like a sonic art piece that would construct textures and imagery that you had to be able to get your head around in order to understand. And for the most part, I did feel like I struggled with that. However, upon leaving the gig and reflecting on things, I have still been left with the overwhelming urge to go through this experience again. It thoroughly felt like the act of being challenged in such a way was the entire point of what Sunn O))) try to achieve in the live environment. Looking at everything on display here: from the unrivalled sonic volume, to the support act that complimented them, to the mood that was created throughout the build up and duration of the performance- everything came together to give the feeling that this band thoroughly succeeded in reaching this goal. 

Perhaps it was just the process of seeing this band for the first time that made this more uncomfortable. Or perhaps that is how I would always feel upon seeing Sunn O))) in any environment. Either way, I already can't wait for the next time this band come back to these shores so that I can go to one of their shows once more. I have seen reviewers describe the effects of a Sunn O))) show being like the worst kind of bad trip that manages to feel like hell on earth all the while retaining enough of a sense of intrigue and a sadistic sort of pleasure to keep you utterly hooked for when it's all over. And I found that pretty damn accurate.

It's safe to say that I have never experienced anything like this before, and I doubt I ever will again until I see this band again. Although I have put so many words into trying to describe what this show was like, I still don't feel like I, or really anyone out there, can do it justice. Just take the leap and see this band if you possibly can. You'll never forget it if you do. For better or for worse. 

_______________

Thanks to you for checking out this review of Sunn O))) at the QMU. Please leave a comment below, or help support RWEI by giving us a like/follow over on the socials. As always, we're also open for any submissions/contributions. 

Cheers!