Review Summary: Ride the abundance tide.
Each summer calls for a new Causa Sui album and after a two year gap, the prolific Danish four-piece have finally dropped
Euporie Tide. More concise this time, the band have separated their often lengthy psychedelic jams into several, more manageable pieces, without losing their mesmerizing appeal.
After the release of the highly acclaimed and successful
Summer Sessions, Causa Sui have become an underground force in the psychedelic stoner scene. Their musical formula, usually consisting of intricate, dynamic tunes that build up from laid back, jazz-influenced jams to heavy, focused outbursts, has improved a lot along the decade. For
Euporie Tide, the brass instruments were shelved to make room for the mellotron, to gently complement the guitars, adding a lovely, summery vibe.
Feeling more connected to the aforementioned
Summer trilogy rather than the
Pewt'r Sessions, their latest effort also carves a path of its own. All encompassing opener, 'Homage', contains just about anything you'd expect and love about the band: tightly knit rhythms and soaring guitars. The main riff is simple yet essential Causa Sui, while the mid-section jam is truly hypnotic, slowly rising for the hard hitting finale. 'Boozehound' merges groovy, wah guitars with some perfectly placed, mellotron stabs, culminating into a heavier, more distorted "chorus". Most of
Euporie Tide is centered around Jonas Munk's guitar, however, upon closer inspection, anyone listening has to admit Jess Kahr and Jakob Scott's bass and drum interplay plays a crucial role in the grand scheme of things. They keep the pieces together, thus allowing the rest of the instruments involved to freely roam.
The mellow side offers some gorgeous moments too, that include the closing track, 'Eternal Flow', where Kahr steps out of the usual loop to play some soft bass leads, while the clean, eerie guitar licks behind it create a lush atmosphere. It's truly the perfect ending for such a dynamic record. At the same time, 'The Juice' and 'Ju-Ju Blues' mix some of the most pristine moments with heavier progressions. The former starts with a pastoral motif that frequently gives way to marching, Black Sabbath-like build-ups, while the latter jumps from waltzing, organ rich patterns to pile-driving segments with several wah guitar washes and solos, before returning to its initial phase. There are few tunes here that can actually be grouped into soft or heavy categories, the guys opting instead for a constant change of gears.
Whether classic or not, this is hands down Causa Sui's best effort so far. The complete, 65 minute journey that was reportedly developed over the past three years, further solidifies the band's leading position in the psychedelic stoner field. Each track adds something different to the whole, having been carefully constructed without feeling stiff. A very expansive, yet accessible record for anyone, even newcomers to the genre,
Euporie Tide is an essential release.
