The Return of Sun Raven Blends Rock with Ambience
- BuzzSlayers
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Sun Raven returns with a new record that blends both of his most pertinent styles, bringing together elements of alternative and progressive rock, with hints of edgy overtone, gritty guitar work, and that heavy rock backbone, along with the smooth, cinematic, and vast tonalities that he brings to the table as well.
As a fan of the artist, this is one of my favorite pieces he's released to date. This is because of that blend of the two big Styles he tends to a lot of the time.
The album definitely breaks down barriers and walls in terms of creating a bit of an expansive soundscape, and the instrumentation that he brings to the table on this record is also something that makes it quite special.
The very first track, "Bridge Between Worlds", introduces the record very well and brings that cinematic and spacious feel and aesthetic right from the start, with pianos and synth pads that sort of swallow you up.
I love the piano melodies on this one because it's got a slight haunt to them and it has quite a way of grabbing your attention and sort of inviting you to float alongside it the entire time.
This track is followed up by the title track, "Anam Cara", which breeds that progressive and way more edgy alternative rock style. This song has a great guitar tone that's sort of fuzzy but has a little bit more overdrive than that. Progression and the percussion really drives it forward.
You also have clean, acoustic guitars in the background that start the song off well, and they come together and sort of blend throughout the rest of the song.
The artist is amazing at layering those guitars, and it's not new to him.
Part of the style of Sun Raven, as an artist, is sort of shaping sounds to create a whole.
The layering work with the guitars on many of the songs is really quite brilliant and he's really able to create these tracks that feel like powerful but still very melodically driven rock singles.
"Change of Season" is the song that sits almost at the center of the record and feels good to listen to because it's got this light sort of breezy guitar performance on it. There's a lot of these great bends and unique style, approach, and technique to his performance on the song.
This is purely an instrumental record, and the guitar work is the key element of it all. This track in particular, showcases some of that blend of rock and smoothness together. This is because the guitars are distorted, but it still has a delicate feel to it. It's very melody-based and has a beautiful flow throughout.
The track also has some percussion in there, but that's not over the top either. It's not at the forefront, but it adds another layer to the track and gives it a little extra depth.
One of the things that works so well about this record is the synth and keyboard work. The synths and keys are not on every single track, but it's sprinkled in here and there, like on "Shadow Of Truth", which has a great rock riff to it, and these since that sort of float around in the ether of the track and add a little bit more dynamic to things.
If there's any song on this release that focuses on sound sculpting, it's the closing track, "Leaving Orbit".
This is an amazing track to actually finish the record with and he really does utilize effects and different approaches to bend the sound and shape of the guitar and the tone.
This one does stick with more of a haunting kind of underbelly, but I really liked that. It is cinematic, but not in the same fashion that the opening track is.
It's edgier, it's got a different kind of soundscape to it that is more invasive in a strange way.
The way he can take a guitar and make different sounds with it is really amazing, and I find the artist is brilliant at it most of the time.
This is most certainly a record that you go through from start to finish, in one shop.
The whole thing is 10 songs and spans about 32 minutes in length.
There's a lot to chew on here, so I'd suggest jumping in as soon as you can to see exactly where I'm coming from.
Absolutely, check this out, whether you're a guitarist, just a fan of emotionally and cinematically backed instrumental music, alternative rock, progressive rock, or any of the above.
This certainly will not let you down.
Remember where you heard it first.
Comments