Sister Suvi-”Now I Am Champion”-CD/LP
I picked up this album at the first show I went to this past weekend (See here) after being really, really impressed with the live performance Sister Suvi put on. I Was told before hand that one of the members is also in Islands, a band I know about but couldn’t say I’m a fan of or would be able to identify a song they had written. Sister Suvi is a trio made up of Merrill Garbus (ukelele, bass, vocals), Patrick Gregoire (guitar, bass, voice, member of Islands) and Nico Dann (drums, voice). Notice that all three sing. They share this duty equally, nobody is the lead singer, dominating the whole album, and they are often all three singing at once making for an amazing harmony. Their voices were made to be together.
Sister Suvi- "Now I Am Champion"
The first thing that comes to my mind when listening to this band is Joy Division, but happier, or at least more energetic. Gregoire’s vocals definitely invoke Ian Curtis.
This is a band that might not come off as being entirely serious, but they are serious artists. They use their instruments and voices in creative ways that make for sonic experiences that I have never heard anywhere else. The variation of vocal styles from song to song helps keep this album amazingly refreshing. I have been listening to it almost exclusively since returning home from the trip.
The standout track on this album would have to be “American” where Garbus, the only American in the band (the other two are our neighbors to the north) tells a tale about the horrors of love and the ruthlessness of American girls.
The band is on tour right now with Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
