A longtime favourite of ours, Suuns boast excellent musicianship reflected and augmented on live shows. The Montreal based quartet have to date released four excellent albums, including one of our Album Picks of 2016, and a collaborative one with Jerusalem In My Heart which made it to our Album Picks of 2015. Suuns’ second album, Images Du Futur, released in 2013, featured a song called ‘2020’, which according to them, “was a prediction that in the year 2020 we would discover alien life.” The band have further stated:
“Today, living in 2020, the idea of discovering life outside our planet, as huge and as awe-inspiring as that would be, seems almost quaint. There is a sentiment that if we were to discover other life, then it would somehow unify humanity. Witnessing the disparities in our own backyard begs the question as to what we would be unifying around.
This year has not been about looking into outer space, but rather, looking into oneself. This year has further underscored to us the enormous privilege that we enjoy as a band of four white guys—the freedom we enjoy touring around the world with relative ease and security, in stark contrast to the way some of our neighbors live day in and day out, just a few doors down the street. This year, having your head in the stars isn’t going to cut it.
Like it or not, in the future, ‘2020’ will be the song that people remember Suuns by. And the year 2020 will be the year that we didn’t discover aliens, but instead discovered another part of our humanity.”
Suuns have invited other musicians they admire to remix ‘2020’, and will release these digitally on Bandcamp over the next few weeks on a Pay What You Can basis, with all proceeds going to the NAACP. A first instalment has been unveiled and features stellar remix contributions from producer and multidisciplinary artist Kelman Duran; Vive La Void, the solo project of Sanae Yamada (co-founder and keyboard player of Moon Duo); Deerhoof’s drummer and composer Greg Saunier; post-punk musician, producer and Shimmy Disc founder KRAMER, and singer/guitarist Brian Case of FACS and Disappears. For a taste of what’s on offer, here’s the first remix to enjoy, courtesy of Kelman Duran.
