Supercaan – Supercaan

Indie Rock | Post Punk

68%

One of the struggles with reviewing music is in trying to be in the right place and the right time for every song that comes your way. It’s hard to get hyped up for an upbeat track when you’re feeling down, or to shut yourself away on a sunny day to listen to something melancholy. The reason is simple; not all songs are created equal. There are some which ascribe to the “jack of all trades, master of none” school of thinking, songs that you could listen to every day rain or shine and consistently enjoy. Other songs are at their most potent when they manage to catch you at just the right moment. Those songs that you constantly skip on shuffle, except for the one time that you don’t. That one time when everything aligns perfectly, you press play, and suddenly it’s like hearing it for the first time.

The eponymous debut from Supercaan gambles hard on that second philosophy with each track at its disposal. This is a record designed specifically for staring out of the window on long journeys. For closing your eyes and listening to it mingle with the sound of the rain. For those quiet nights where you look inward and ponder on your place in the world. Everything about this record; the crystalline synths ringing out on ‘Ryoan-Ji’, the expressive post punk bass line on ‘Hang On For Winter’, the vocals reminiscent of Elbow’s Guy Garvey, the bittersweet hooks of ‘The Great North-Eastern’. It’s all heightened by going into the record with an introspective state of mind, like how flames burn their brightest in the darkest nights. As I’m here, sat reviewing this record under a golden sunset on warm spring afternoon, I don’t feel like I’ve heard this record at it’s best. This isn’t an album that is likely to grab you right away, but it’s definitely one worth putting aside and saving for a rainy day when you need it most.