sui sui duck - Long Time No See
“Long Time No See” is the long awaited first full album by sui sui duck and funnels the band’s diverse musical styles into a journey from outer space and back again. It may be a tried and tested concept, but sui sui duck’s take on it featuring a little bit of soul, pop, electro, rock and more is definitely worth signing up for.
With all its space imagery and interstellar narrative, it comes as no surprise that one of sui sui duck lead vocalist Yuta Shibuya’s key influences is Daft Punk, who he used to play covers of. While this features a sprinkling of lyrical Daft Punk references to “One More Time” and “Technologic,” and singing about robots and memories, there’s none of the arty pretentiousness associated with the French, and as a Japanese work, it’s a lot more honest with its expression of emotions. Despite the heavy use of digital effects, beats and vocoding, this is an album definitely made by humans.
One of the major differences is that sui sui duck is forward looking in terms of music, while Daft Punk are pre-occupied with classic sounds and faithfully reproducing master techniques of the past. Featuring many of the latest production trends and popular sounds, this is an album for 2020 and beyond. Which is not to say that it’s derivative, it’s the opposite, sui sui duck take you in all sorts of different directions: propulsive dance music a few degrees from deep house or garage (“Robotic”), romantic soul for the digital era (“Gravity”), cinematic blockbuster soundtracking for Apple commercials (“Utopia”), sweet electropop with chiptune sounds for that cosmic wandering vibe (“Spacecraft” “星泥棒”) and even some funky breaks with phat wobble (“Float”). Even though they’re doing all sorts of things, it rarely feels forced or contrived, and the more pedestrian songs like “Black Hole” get a pass for honesty - I don’t think they’re so self aware to be doing it for lulz. Though the poppy numbers are the most accessible, the album’s highlight is “2071” which features some keyboard soul not unlike Lucky Tapes, but goes off with fancy fingered riffs, a jazzy piano breakdown, then a ripping synth solo. It’s both complex and fun, skidding and shuddering, playing with pace. It pulls together all musical elements displayed in the other songs, a bit like a musical Voltron, where all the possibilties present themselves and the path taken is simply one of a number of potential courses.
This makes it impossible to pigeonhole sui sui duck into any one genre - the use of digital technology enables them to shapeshift and do whatever they feel like. But something that is worth picking up on is the guitar play, its very subtle but the bluesy/jazzy riffs that are used throughout give the songs an extra dimension and remind you that this is a band of humans, not just a (very talented) guy in the bedroom. The beats aren’t just programmed patterns, they’re played properly on digital kits, and the singing is expressive without being too flashy or robotic, helping you connect and relate to the music.
While it isn’t quite a masterpiece on the level of “Discovery”, “Long Time No See” is an excellent album that boldly goes, showing us the possibilities of pop for the coming decade. No one talks about “Homework” anyway, so based on this effort, expect the next album from sui sui duck to be a truly epic encounter.
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