#sianspheric

[shoegazekid]

@sianspheric #shoegaze

[shoegazekid]

@sianspheric #shoegaze

[kimsonvalon]

Rave On, Full On - Live at La Salla Rossa in Montreal in 2002

Sianspheric · Thanks. We’re Sianspheric. We’ve Got Merch at the Back. (Live) · Song · 2021

[kimsonvalon]

Écouter / acheter: QFQ at la salla rossa in montreal in 2002 de SIANspheric

[lovejustforaday]

Shoegaze Classics - Somnium

Somnium - Sianspheric (1995)

Main Genres - Shoegaze, Space Rock, Dream Pop, Neo-Psychedelia

A decent sampling of: Post-Rock, Ambient Pop

Shoegaze made its first small but noteworthy splash in the U.S. indie/alternative scene some time in the mid 90s.

Bands like Drop Nineteens, Starflyer 59, Lovesliescrushing, and The Swirlies were coming onto the scene, embracing the subgenre's formula with their own unique twists while following the example of bands from the British Isles like MBV and Ride.

Other American bands like Smashing Pumpkins took broader inspiration from the original shoegazers, playing around with guitar textures and dipping their toes into more washed out reverb sounds.

Canadian bands, meanwhile, barely even touched shoegaze until the turn of the century. That is, with one notable exception. Today we're going to be looking at Canada's own original shoegaze band - the elusive and wispy Sianspheric.

The Band

Sianspheric were the only even somewhat prominent first wave shoegaze band to come from the land of the canucks.

And by saying that, I certainly don't mean that these guys were MBV level big, nor even to the degree of bands like Lush or Swervedriver. These guys were small timers, filling the void for hip 90s Canadians needing a homegrown fix for their addictions to heavily reverberated guitar.

Hailing from Hamilton, ON, Sianspheric was formed in 1994 by Sean Ramsay on guitar, Matthew Durrant on drums, Steve Peruzzi on vocals on bass, and Paul Sinclair on guitar. Peruzzi's vocals are perhaps the platonic ideal of a shoegazer - perpetually relaxed, half awake even, but rich and highly resonant in tone despite a generally soft delivery.

The band were part of a broader scene of indie rock happening in the 90s Greater Toronto Area that Ramsay himself has dubbed the "Pseudo-Burlington scene". Sianspheric were also part of a wave of artists writing shoegaze music that heavily overlapped with a new generation of space rock.

The band quickly signed with the Canadian indie label Sonic Unyon and promptly dropped their first record in 1995. No early EPs this time fellas.

The Record

Somnium is a faintly glowing, leisurely 'spacegaze' tour-de-force, ever subtly subduing its listener into dreamy visions of seemingly bending laws of the universe to its will, just like any other powerful substance. It is an auditory experience meant to accompany a form of relaxing interstellar space travel that unfortunately doesn't exist at the time that I'm writing this review.

From a strictly timbral frame of reference, I would say this record contains many of the most pleasing textures that 90s shoegaze bands would manage to produce.

Big fans of Slowdive in particular (such as myself) are also sure to enjoy this record, as it shares a similar ethos with the band's heavy use of dynamics, building intensity, and more involved, atmospheric production to augment its hazy guitars.

The album opens with "Turbulent + Hydrodynamic", an aimless journey on a riff through vast infinite stargazing before the abrupt pull of a celestial body drags the listener down into a whirlpool of distorted guitar rock.

"This Window" takes psychedelic dream pop to a whole new level of tranquility, with a tiny, dotted guitar refrain that twinkles in and out of the realm of audible sounds, like a distant flicker from far out.

Immediately following is the crushing waves of "Watch Me Fall", a plunge into more sonic whirlpools with a sense of inquisitive glee, going in head first just to see what is on the other side.

"I Like The Ride" is a mind-melting, orgasmic rush of sensory pleasure in the form of juicy, crunching guitars that flood the ear canals with fizzy sonic fluids til it reaches the brain. It is a full out-of-body experience that leaves me feeling completely suspended in time while simultaneously blasting through the universe with all the propulsion of pulsar rays. Peruzzi's nasally half-chanted vocals peek through the synchronized mess of it all, with defiant declarations of self-determination, yet somehow maintaining an aloof coolness in his inflection, as if he isn't even a part of reality. I don't use this comparison often, but this song really is like having some of the most gratifying sex ever.

The record closes with an ambient post-rock piece. Towering at over twenty one minutes long, "Where The Planets Revolve, I Wish I Was There" is certainly a daring choice of how to end your album, but I do think it overstays its welcome considering the very minor variation it offers over those twenty one minutes. Furthermore, the riff this track its based around is not one that I think lends itself well to being repeated dozens of times; no real sense of closure or finality in its melody. For something in a similar vein done frankly (IMO) better, I'd recommend "Midnight Souls Still Remain" at the end of M83's 2008 LP Saturdays = Youth.

Still, this is not nearly enough to sour my experience of this record. It's a bit front-loaded, sure, but there are stunning celestial textures throughout all of these tracks, and the highlights are more than enough to keep me invested for the entire duration. Somnium is a very solid record.

What Came After That?

Sianspheric are still going as a band, and never really stopped going, even if their output has waned over the years. The lineup has changed a few times, but Sean and Matthew have maintained their roles as guitarist/vocalist and drummer, respectively. Original vocalist Steve left the band shortly after their second record.

The band's follow up material after Somnium has mostly leaned harder into the space rock component of their sound. There's the 1998 sophomore LP There's Always Someplace You'd Rather Be, and the more instrumental The Sound of The Colour of The Sun from 2001.

I checked out the 2001 record while writing these reviews, and I've got to say that "Radiodiffusion" is arguably just as great as "I Like The Ride", though more of a bittersweet vibe juxtaposing the latter's intense euphoria. Could really do without the jumpscare on "Tous les soirs" though, like holy shit wtf come on guyz!

Sianspheric's latest LP was 2016's Writing the Future in Letters of Fire. Save for a 2020 EP titled So We Swim, the band has not put out any other major releases since. Their still playing shows regularly though, which is always great to see for bands that have been around without hiatus for as long as they have.

Even if you were already a savvy shoegaze connoisseur coming into this series, there's a good chance that you've never heard of this band or this record until now, so I compel you to explore this hidden gem of the 90s. Somnium really delivers one of the most far out trips that any shoegaze record has to offer.

8/10

Highlights: "I Like The Ride", "Turbulent + Hydrodynamic", "This Window", "Watch Me Fall"

[dvey]

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