Sun is Poison – Caribou Killer
Sun is Poison, first name Will, is a solo artist from Ballston Spa, New York. His jams carry the traditional lo-fi garage rock spirit of early Car Seat Headrest, though his talents are more admirable, his production tighter, and his range much wider. His jams are so lustrous and well executed they may trick you into believing this isn’t a solo project.
Following two solid, yet simple projects, Will returned with the glorious Caribou Killer; an album that expands upon its previous installments meaningfully. Blending the realms of indie rock, elegiac and emo rock, Will’s lyrics are as sing-along worthy as they are deep. What sets Caribou Killer from Sun is Poison’s previous projects is the more creative blend of instrumentation, as well as the more experimental, imaginative compositions. For instance, Born of a Serpent’s gentle off-beat percussion is as absorbing as it is unique. Conduits demonstrates one of the most incredible improvements over his previous song designs; it’s melodies and rhythms are just as captivating, but the instrumentation is richer and more complex. The same could be said for Heel, with its twangy toe-tapping drums and snappy, jammy guitars. Lastly, the absorbing wall of sound works stunningly as an outro on I'm going with you, caribou (carrion I), as it does on heel and during the majority of the world was painted with houses (carrion II).
The album sometimes repeats the same errors of Sun is Poison’s previous albums. At times, Will falls into a fairly cliché pattern. As Born of a Serpent begins to climax, it ditches its instrumental build-up in lieu of a generic rock opera. There are also some sections that, while maintaining a gorgeous blend of acoustics, are painstakingly simple, such as the majority of Dumb Machine. Secondly, it’s of my personal belief that Will is holding back his creativity in lieu of being accessible. There were many opportunities for the artist to expand upon his compositions, though most of his songs ended short and simple. This can be mostly observed during the final track, which instead of letting its eccentric heavy guitar speak for the artist, has a dull verse sung over the top. Moreover, the delivery is indistinguishable from any other Sun is Poison song. Had Will let the instrumentation do the talking more, some of the album’s climatic moments could have hit harder. Furthermore, a grander and more expanded outro in certain tracks could have easily elevated the album up a notch.
Caribou Killer is a great step in the right direction for Sun is Poison, and a surprisingly fresh iteration of indie emo rock. Aside from the room for improvement, there’s very little to fault with the album. While Will’s previous output was diverse in instrumentation, they were sonically and structurally far too similar; Caribou Killer addresses these problems by making the compositions as diverse as the range of instrumentation. Expectations are now high, though; hopefully Sun is Poison will expand upon his songs in future – especially instrumentally. A retread of ideas will easily lose the attention of his fans. Nonetheless, a delightful surprise.
Really Good
Listen to it here:
Sun is Poison – Caribou Killer
