Sukilove - Drunkaleidoscope

by Adrian Janes

published: 15 / 10 / 2013

Label: Jezus Factory
Format: CD

Inventive yet sometimes directionless latest album from quirky Belgian avant-garde outfit, Sukilove

Review

Sukilove are a Belgian band who have existed in some form since 2002 and have released several albums in that time. They are centred around singer and songwriter Pascal Deweze, who also plays guitar and keyboards. All the songs here are in English: perhaps it’s Deweze’s background which helps him to create the sometimes quirky lyrics and wordplay, as in the album’s title. Musically, the band create a variety of atmospheres, usually founded on a solid rhythm section and abrasive guitar. The ambling pace of ‘Calm’ is overlaid by an eerie, theremin-like sound. Despite the smooth harmonies of the chorus (“Just when I hold you/I feel calm”), the raw vocals on the verses and the barbed guitar undercut them and suggest how far from peace the singer really is, the tension finally breaking in a climax of busy rhythms. ‘Somehow Someday’ also features discordant funky guitar, evoking the Gang of Four, while Deweze’s voice has the interesting rough-edged smoothness of Squeeze’s Glen Tilbrook, at once both grit and pearl. Some intricately interlocking vocals come to the fore towards the end, typical of the way the band combines a number of moods and elements within the same song. Over a broken, choppy rhythm and a lurching keyboard motif, the lyrics of ‘Beatlesnake’ see Deweze at his most playful. The track has something of a latter-day psychedelic feel, as he regales the listener with his impeccable taste in ‘Beefheart Steak' and ‘Beach Boy Cake’. Silly as this might sound, the skilful playing and quirky melody carry it along, something indeed like the Beatles’ late 60s experimental pop. Though generally inventive, on some songs there is a tendency towards directionless repetition. The worst culprits are the largely forgettable ‘C Thru Masquerade’ and the meandering closing minutes of final track ‘You Are All I Want From You’, though the latter has some lovely guitar work and some more of Deweze’s peculiar (in every sense) take on the English language which, as often as not, somehow works: “I don’t want the perfume of desire/To smell in my favour”. Much better are the clutch of songs which make up the majority of the second half of the album. ‘Lust’ is built around good interplay between guitar, keyboard and prowling bass. ‘Lancelot’, the most complex track, has a recurring tinkling piano, creating a mood of disquiet in conjunction with echoing synth notes, around which some exceptionally funky bass is entwined. Deweze has the range to achieve the higher notes this song demands, which is completed by a beautiful bridge over keyboard and Leslied guitar. The imploring ‘Whatever You Have (Now Now Now)’ fights against its melancholy undertow with some vigorous guitar, especially in a couple of passages where the band touch on the same kind of inexorable power as ‘Red’-era King Crimson. The penultimate song ‘Think I Love You But I Made a Mess’ is driven forward by lively bass and drums and a shimmering guitar, Deweze singing mainly in a touching falsetto that again confirms his range. This is an album where the songs are mostly catchy enough to have an immediate impact, but also subtle enough to reward further listens, with its carefully deployed and varied musical textures. Pascal Deweze is a strong singer - whether the lyrics have been translated into English or really convey how he thinks I don’t know, but they are certainly another piquant ingredient that makes this album worth savouring.

Track Listing:-

1 Calm
2 Somehow Someday
3 Beatlesnake
4 C Thru Masquerade
5 Lust
6 Lancelot
7 Whatever You Have (Now Now Now)
8 Think I Love You but I Made a Mess
9 You Are All I Want from You