Some bands just aren’t into making friendly music. Montreal’s Suuns (pronounced “soons”) are one such example. Murky and dissonant, they combine grimy electronics with spindly guitar lines into a sound that’s part nondanceable Joy Division and part U.K. lockjaw-rockers Clinic. Hold/Still is the group’s third album, and with John Congleton (St. Vincent, War On Drugs) at the helm, one could’ve hoped for a record that was more expansive compared with previous outings.
With a nonstop hushed menace, Hold/Still plods along for nearly all of its running time. Tension is built up rather effectively during extended cuts “Resistance” and “Careful,” but there’s never a release or overwound snap. Only “Translate” offers anything to latch on to: Its driving groove and circular guitar figure are still pretty manicured, but it manages to be a rare highlight. Hold/Still tries so hard to be ominous that it almost always forgets to be interesting.
—Eric Schuman
