Sum of R to Release Lahbryce March 25; New Video Posted
Dramatic. Atmospheric. Kinda fucked-sounding. One would expect new Sum of R to meet these criteria, and the band’s third single from the impending Lahbryce full-length on Consouling Sounds does so with aplomb. This is the first Sum of R outing to feature Marko Neuman, a party plenty familiar to Sum of R‘s Reto Mäder and Jukka Rämänen since he and Rämänen both run in the Waste of Space Orchestra-collective sphere.
You can read below about how the collaboration came about for a Roadburn 2020 doodad that, obviously, never happened, but like many others in this warped timeline, Sum of R have made the most of it. “Crown of Diseased” is bleak, spacious, experimentalist. Heavy, death ambient. Like Finnish/Swiss prodigal sons of Khanate come home to roost. I can imagine it in the Green Room at the 013, easy. Maybe a bonus set up at the skate park in the dark without telling anybody ahead of time.
The PR wire has the single and the preorder links:
SUM OF R RELEASE NEW SINGLE “CROWN OF DISEASED”
NEW ALBUM, “LAHBRYCE,” COMING MARCH 2022; PRE-ORDER NOW!
“Lahbryce” will be released March 25, 2022 on Consouling Sounds on 2xLP and CD.
Pre-Order CD: https://store.consouling.be/collections/new/products/album-sum-of-r-lahbryce-cd
Pre-Order 2xLP: https://store.consouling.be/collections/new/products/album-sum-of-r-lahbryce-lp
Every story has a beginning, no matter how unlikely. And the story of the new incarnation of Sum Of R, the project that Reto Mäder formed in 2007 and has led as the only fixed member ever since, began with some really good news, and then some really bad news, because you never know where magic is going to come from.
2020, remember that? Before the world went weird, Sum Of R were supposed to tour, a trek which included a much distinguished Roadburn appearance. The line-up for the tour was already set to be a duo, with Reto joining forces with drummer Jukka Rämänen, known for his presence in such luminaries of the groundbreaking Finnish psych scene as Dark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä or the supergroup Waste Of Space Orchestra (Oranssi Pazuzu & Dark Buddha Rising), not to mention Hexvessel and Dust Mountain. A power duo, in the true sense of the word. Because Roadburn is special, Reto thought about having a guest singer for that particular performance, and once you already have a connection established with the mighty Dark Buddha Rising – a connection first established on the joint Dark Buddha Rising / Sum Of R tour of 2018, by the way –, why look further? Enter vocalist Marko Neuman (also of Convocation and, naturally, the all-consuming Waste Of Space Orchestra), who would make them a remarkable and unlikely trio just for that evening.
Then, as we know, the world changed, and both the tour and Roadburn itself didn’t happen. In one of the best examples of there being a silver lining to almost every bad situation, Reto tried to make something positive of the situation and booked the first possible flight after the first lockdown in his native Switzerland to travel to Finland for three weeks of studio recording with the line-up that never was, Jukka and Marko. And boom: magic happened. As Reto puts it, “we had such a good and intense as well as grateful and creative time together that it could not be more natural that Marko also became a part of Sum Of R through these common experiences. For Jukka and me, Marko’s voice is like a transmitter to another dimension.”
1. Sink As I 08:34
2. Crown Of Diseased 04:46
3. Borderline
4. The Problem
5. Hymn For The Formless 07:18
6. Shimmering Sand
7. 144th
8. Lust
Line-up:
Reto Mäder: Bassguitar, drones, synth, effects
Jukka Rämänen: Drums, percussion, sounds
Marko Neuman: Vocals, synth, noise
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