Welcome one and all to today’s edition of “Just Go Deaf”! Today we’ve got the stop-and-go antics of Sunn O)))‘s new single “Butch’s Guns”, which will likely perplex you as it also decimates everything you love. As Sunn O))) is wont to do.
Recorded at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, WA with producer Brad Wood (Hum, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair), the new self-titled Sunn O))) album draws heavily from its environment. The vast tracking room, surrounded by forest and flooded with natural light, became an extension of the music itself.
“We could go hiking and be out in the woods,” O’Malley says. “That became a big part of it.” Anderson echoes the sentiment: “There was no stress, no worry about the timeline. We just let ourselves go, and let the music come out.”
That freedom manifests in an album that strips Sunn O))) back to their most essential form. While the duo have famously collaborated with artists ranging from Attila Csihar and Hildur Guðnadóttir to Scott Walker, this record is performed entirely by O’Malley and Anderson themselves. For the first time, every sound emerges from the core partnership. “It was almost like this crucible of ideas,” O’Malley explains, “really at the core of what we’ve been doing.”
Rather than limiting their scope, the duo format opens new terrain. Recent live performances as a stripped-back two-piece informed the sessions, but the studio yielded unexpected divergences. “A lot of things that happened in the studio were really exciting and different from what we had been playing live,” Anderson notes. The result is an album that feels expansive yet intimate, panoramic yet detailed.
Visually, Sunn O))) is as immersive as it is sonically. The album artwork features two paintings by Mark Rothko, reproduced with permission from the artist’s estate—an extraordinary alignment between Sunn O)))‘s slow-burning abstraction and Rothko’s vast, meditative fields of color.
Liner notes come from acclaimed British writer Robert Macfarlane, whose reflections on landscape and deep time provide a philosophical counterpoint to the music. Additional artwork by French artist Elodie Lesourd appears throughout the inner sleeves and merchandise. Pre-orders for Sunn O))) are available here.
Sunn O))) are also bringing their seismic low-end rituals back to the US. The tour kicks off on March 30 at Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, CA and wraps up on April 25 at Roseland Theater in Portland, OR. Get your tickets here.
3/30 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom
3/31 Los Angeles, CA United Theater
4/1 Phoenix, AZ The Van Buren
4/3 Dallas, TX Trees
4/4 Austin, TX Emo’s
4/5 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall
4/6 New Orleans, LA Civic Theatre
4/7 Atlanta, GA The Goat Farm
4/9 Columbus, OH The Bluestone
4/10 Washington, DC Lincoln Theatre
4/11 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
4/12 New York, NY Town Hall
4/13 Montreal, QC Le National
4/14 Toronto, ON 131 McCormack
4/16 Chicago, IL Salt Shed
4/17 Detroit, MI Russell Industrial Complex
4/18 Iowa City, IA Englert Theatre
4/19 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
4/20 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
4/22 Boise, ID Shrine Social Club
4/24 Seattle, WA Showbox SoDo
4/25 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
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