The Dear Hunter – Sunya

Progressive Rock | Funk

76%

 

I’d very much like to write a novel someday. A grand, sprawling fantasy adventure. What’s holding me back isn’t a lack of ideas – I have plenty of those swimming around. Nor is it a lack of time, or an unwillingness to put the work it; I’ve written several novels worth of words on this site over the years after all. What’s stopping me is that I know myself too well. I know damn well I’ll get too bogged down in worldbuilding, spending a decade drawing maps, plotting a thousand years of made-up history, obsessing over every obscure piece of lore I can possibly conceive of, without writing a single word about the actual story. We all love a setting that feels deep, and rich, and lived in, and who among us hasn’t lost many hours of our lives nosing through wikis about our favourite worlds, but all those little details are no replacement for an interesting plot or compelling characters. 

I can empathise then with The Dear Hunter falling into this same trap. While their multi album spanning Acts were grounded in a historical setting, the concept albums that form their new new Indigo Child project have to contend with creating their own sci-fi world from scratch. After Antimai spent a whole album laying out the titular futuristic city, with it’s many machinations and separate cultural circles, I was hoping that the album that followed would begin to delve into a more intimate tale of some of the people that dwell within. Instead, Sunya just continues with more worldbuilding. Not even building on what came before either, rather following a journey into the wilds beyond the city. More abstract places that I have no connection to, no reason to care about. Colouring in a world map without offering an interesting plot to follow or a fleshed out character to relate to. 

While the concept still struggles to make it off the ground, thankfully Sunya is able to offer a fun journey musically. It doesn’t quite have the same strong hooks as Antimai did, however that record also felt a bit too fixated on funk. There are still plenty of sublime, irresistible grooves on this latest offering, ‘The Bazaareteria’ in particular is funk central, but it also broadens its horizons and explores a lot of other interesting sounds and ideas. ‘Marauders’ is a fun frenetic rocker that has a lot of the fire and edge of the early acts. Between its synth tone and use of talk box, it feels like retro boss battle music. The spooky breakdown towards the end could have been plucked right from a Castlevania game. The title track opens with an airy, celestial feel, before closing with a gorgeous sax solo that summons a whole brass section to end the album on a triumphant high. Meanwhile ‘The Glass Desert III – The Plains’ has a bright, uplifting energy to it that taps into the band’s White EP from The Colour Spectrum. 

The three part ‘Glass Desert’ suite really is the beating heart of Sunya, and while I love the splashes of harmonica on ‘Cliffs and Stormlands’, for my money it peaks early with its first section: ‘Giants‘. The shimmering synth work is so lush and dreamy, like a summer spent lounging on a sun-drenched beach. However, as the song evolves, the band shift gear into their proggiest work to date, with the last few minutes sounding like a passage from a top tier Yes record. The music is really starting to take shape on Sunya; drawing elements I know and love from the band’s past work, looking froward towards fresh ideas, and combining them in a way that gives the project its own clear identity. I just wish its triumphant highs and introspective lows could move in tandem with the emotional beats of a compelling story.