from thisisbristol.com
Sunna - Louisiana, Bristol, Friday 25th of February & Moles Club, Bath, Saturday 26th of February
Sunna are a local band made good. Signed to Massive Attack's 'Melankolic' label after Jon Harris (singer, songwriter and driving force behind Sunna) carried out session work on 'Mezzanine', and proved he had a talent for penning a good tune. The band 'Sunna' was formed in 1998, adding Jon's brother Tim on drums, guitarist Ian McLaren, funk bassist Duncan Lutz, and Mark Cahill providing the Dj talent on the decks. Since then, the album 'One Minute Science' has been recorded and is awaiting release in September.
Sunna at the Louisiana:
All the local celebrities seemed to have turned out to catch Sunna's set at this tiny venue. Members of Massive Attack, and the Massive production team were there, dispersed with the odd record label executive, and of course Jon Harris's mum and dad. There was a real anticipation in the air as we stood in the down stairs bar, supping our pints, that we were about to witness some thing rather special. What took place that night, I was totally unprepared for.
When I asked people in 'the know' about Sunna's music, it was described as 'edgy' and 'thoughtful', and 'a bit like a cross between Radiohead and Beck, with a bit of Nick Drake thrown in'. What I witnessed on stage bore little to this information. The set began with ambient sounds from Mark's decks as he began to do his thing, and lead the audience in to a false sense of security. Then, a total onslaught of guitar mayhem hit the onlookers like a brick between the eye's. The sound screamed 'WE ARE ANGRY' with every note, and I thought my ears were starting to bleed.
Once the initial shock had passed, and you realised that you still had some hearing left, the night turned out to be a really enjoyable experience. Sunna presented a collection of well crafted tunes with some interesting twists. The guitars onstantly played off each other with little riffs and progressions, backed by dark sounds from the decks and some great bass playing. All of this was topped off with a great vocal performance from Jon, who has a great vocal range and can apply growls in all the right places to add definition and feeling.
Sunna at Moles:
I left the gig at the Louisiana wanting to see more of what Sunna had to offer, and to see them at a larger venue. Luckily, they were playing at Moles in Bath the following night. What a stroke of luck! I just prayed my hearing could take another onslaught.
The night at Moles was not all I had wished for. The crowed that had turned up to see Sunna looked like they were expecting another Massive Attack....Oh my, were they in for a shock! On top of this, the band seemed to experience a whole host of technical problems that were no fault of their own. They even had to start one song again it got so bad.
When you blend what is essentially a live band with samples and material from a Dj, and the drummer can't hear what is going on because his monitor isn't working, and he can't see the rest of the band because the smoke machine has been put into overdrive, you are going to get problems.
Still, it was worth going just to watch the crowds reaction when the guitars kicked in on the first song.
Sunna have the potential to be a very big band. They are good at what they do, and belong on a larger stage to do it properly. It will be interesting to see what the album sounds like when it is released, as Sunna live this weekend appeared not to be what was expected. In a way I kind of like that.
Richard Hinton