Sun - Moon
Keith Fullerton Whitman wrote about this Sun record 15 years ago in an amusing list for Pitchfork and I have listened to it, on and off, since then. Sun is Oren Ambarchi—the Oren Ambarchi who usually does stuff like last year’s Hubris—and Chris Townsend, and their debut album is a collection of sweet tunes, none sweeter (in my opinion) than Moon. The song is sort of deceptively delicate, with slow, soft drumming, Ambarchi’s whispered vocals, and carefully plucked notes allowed to ring out; then, later: a small detonation of distortion interrupts the song. The song builds again, in the same pattern, and Ambarchi takes a slow, beautiful solo, and sings, then, over another eruption of distortion, adumbrated or cordoned off by the clear notes of a secondary solo. I’ve probably listened to this song 40-50 times in my life and that moment at 2:58, when the song is disrupted again and Ambarchi’s vocals come back in (with harmonies), still astounds me. It’s a great song, great album.[BUY Sun]