Red Sun Atacama Premiere “Echoes” Video; New LP Darwin Out June 17
Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on March 17th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Parisian heavy rock trio Red Sun Atacama will release their second album, Darwin, on June 17. It is their label-debut for Mrs Red Sound, the imprint helmed by Bourdeaux-based psych-prog rockers Mars Red Sky, and it follows 2018’s Licancabur (review here) while expanding the methodology of the three-piece began to feel out those years ago. Where the first full-length, which came out through More Fuzz, expressed its penchant for jams and shred across two vinyl sides in extended tracks like “The Gold” and “Empire” — both over 10 minutes long — Darwin seems to be bringing the sides together such that a song like “Antares” can move from an airier post-rock beginning into punch-bass-shred-guitar-shove-drums as quickly as the passing of a measure.
None of the six tracks on the vinyl-ready 38-minute offering hit 10 minutes, but in “Furies” and “Antares” after the intro “11-CH” on side A and even in the shorter pairing of “Echoes” and “Revvelator” on side B ahead of the eight-minute closer “Ribbons,” the three-piece of guitarist/keyboardist Vincent Hospital, bassist/vocalist Clément Marquez and drummer Robin Caillon harness a dynamic that is likewise able to rock out in the spirit of Earthless or emergent fellow Frenchmen Slift, and to open at will into broader atmospherics, improvised-sounding jams crucial to the flow of the album as an entirety and at times hypnotic unto themselves.
There’s still a distinct line between one and the other, as “Furies” readily demonstrates at (near) the outset, as Marquez‘s “woo!” exclamation precedes a slowdown and shift into the exploration that will consume much of the song’s second half as they build back up into a Truckfighters-style fuzz-fueled energy overload for a solo-topped payoff, but the fluidity of their changes isn’t to be ignored, and neither is the fact that, after “Furies” ends with a fury worthy of naming the song after, “Antares” starts so mellow and echoing.
That is not even the first and certainly not the last whole-album consideration on the part of the band, with the Spanish-style guitar giving over to the drums as “11-CH” moves into “Furies” earlier, but the signal is plain in establishing a flow just the same. And at 9:40, “Antares” is both the longest track on Darwin and an encapsulation of the album itself, complete with echoing spoken part over the post-crescendo comedown that gives way to a sudden last-minute kick of tempo and vitality, a surge that brings about the end of the record’s first half and offers a start the momentum that, on a non-vinyl linear format, will be continued through the beginning of “Echoes” (video premiering below).
Here too, Red Sun Atacama present a summary of their structural approach, their willful bringing together of 
traditional verse-and-chorus, desert-inspired heavy rock and more expansive fare, but in more concise, efficient fashion. It begins the back end of Darwin with a full-press groove, wasting not a second before sweeping the listener in its no-mystery-why-this-would-be-a-single sense of physical movement. They are controlled throughout, as demonstrated by the tap of wood-block before the second verse and the twists they work in along the way even before they turn rather suddenly into a subdued, melodic psychedelic break — just for a moment — en route to once again hitting maximum thrust. Marquez‘s bass makes it a highlight no less than Hospital‘s guitar swirl that emerges as the next slowdown is manifested with somewhat more patience, and, like “Antares” before it, brought to silence before coming all the way back.
And where the subsequent “Revvelator” is likewise set on the burning of barns initially, its five-minute run doesn’t have the same symmetry of tempo, slowing down after its rousing jam and rolling to its finish, an impact more of tone and crash than careening twists and gallop. It ends, as it must, in feedback, from whence “Ribbons” takes hold in mid-paced groove and a quick-arriving first verse. Thus the momentum set forth in “Echoes” and really the ending of “Antares” is held up even as Red Sun Atacama communicate the turn into Darwin‘s last stage, which will rise, recede, and rise again before a long fade out to the sounds of waves and a strumming acoustic guitar recalls “11-CH” not so long ago but feeling far away nonetheless, the band having unquestionably made a trip out of the simple going from one end to the other. A final example of the thoughtfulness put into the album as a whole.
Given the reach of some of the jam herein and the chemistry with which they’re executed, it is much to the band’s credit that Darwin feels as unpretentious as it does — the prevailing vibe is of a band doing what they do. Their progression sees them bringing the varying sides of their personality closer together than on the debut, and it’s entirely possible that will hold firm as they move on from this release as well, but some of the nuance in their jams, when looked at one next to the other, hints toward various surprises that may or may not be up the band’s collective sleeve, including changing up the structural foundation of their songs themselves, thinking of how “Ribbons” cascades in comparison to “Furies” and “Antares” before, or even how “Echoes” and “Revvelator” work to accomplish their own ends while resting so easily next to each other.
Red Sun Atacama have grown and are growing more adventurous. One hopes they’ll keep going on the path they seem to be creating for themselves.
The video for “Echoes” features behind-the-scenes footage captured at The Apiary Studio where Darwin was recorded with producer Amaury Sauvé, who also mixed and contributed percussion, and follows here.
Please enjoy:
Red Sun Atacama, “Echoes” video premiere
Red Sun Atacama on “Echoes”:
“Echoes has been thought as a fuzzy, heavy and straight to the point highway to the stars, an invitation to a black hole jam. With Echoes, Red Sun Atacama moves to a more garagy and speedy approach. Lemmy striking a drunk dead Stooge on the ground with a fuzzy hammer and krauty gloves.”
The video was shot at the studio during the recording sessions. Video by Vincent Hospital with the help of Seb Antoine.
Single off Red Sun Atacama’s new album “DARWIN” – out on June 17th via Mrs Red Sound. Recorded and mixed by Amaury Sauvé (who produced albums of hard core outfit Birds In Row) at The Apiary studio (Laval, France); Amaury Sauvé also plays additional percussions on most of the album tracks including Echoes. Master: Thibault Chaumont from Deviant Lab.
Album artwork Nicolas Marciano and Corinne Larre from Twisted Hooves Studio.
Track listing:
1. 11-CH
2. Furies
3. Antares
4. Echoes
5. Revvelator
6. Ribbons
LINE-UP:
Clément Marquez: bass, vocals
Robin Caillon: drums
Vincent Hospital: guitar, keyboard
