Causa Sui

Being that these guys are in my list of favorite bands at the moment and have been a constant source of amazing music in my ears for months now, I feel this post is a little overdue.  Causa Sui is a Danish trio consisting of Jonas Munk: Guitars, keys, electronics & vocals; Jess Kahr: Bass; and Jakob Skøtt: Drums & percussion.  

Today I’ll focus on their Summer Sessions Vol. 1-3.  They have also released a self-titled album and Free Ride.  According to the band’s website, the Summer Sessions consist of hefty doses of “mindbending stoner-kraut-psych-jazz freakouts” that they consider to be a “series of loose, experimental albums.”  My descriptions will probably fall short, but I just love these three albums.  They really do flow together as a whole project.

Vol. 1 is pretty laid back with a very long (24:42) opener and three other fairly long tunes.  All of them are pretty relaxed jams that do not get repetitive like many psychedelic jams.  Causa Sui adjusted well to working as a trio, and the songs seem to combine psych and jazz very well while maintaining a great sense of rock.  The first installment in this series was released August 2008.



Summer Sessions Vol. 1 Track Listing
1. Visions of Summer (24:42)
2. Red Sun in June (8:06)
3. Portixeddu (7:39)
4. Soledad (7:48)

Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 make an unexpected, yet fitting departure from Vol. 1 by incorporating some saxophone.  It provides an interesting layer to Causa Sui’s already thick, spacey (but not too electronic) sound.  It really is amazing how they construct such complex sounds and maintain such a stripped down approach.  Vol. 3 is the heaviest of the bunch with huge riffs and a great feel. 

Summer Sessions Vol. 2 Track Listing
1. Sun Prayer (1:06)
2. Rip Tide (5:28)
3. The Open Road (14:17)
4. Cinecittá (3:27)
5. Tropic Of Capricorn (23:01)

Summer Sessions Vol. 3 Track Listing
1. Eugenie (8:09)
2. Red Valley (9:50)
Manifestations Of Summer (15:38)
3. Lonesome Traveler (3:28)
4. Santa Sangre (8:23)
5. Venice By The Sea (3:47)



If you dig on psychedelic, stoner, kraut, 70’s rock you should definitely give these guys a listen.  Summer Sessions Vol. 1-3 can be sampled at Causa Sui’s myspace page and the vinyl and cd sets can be purchased at All That Is Heavy.  I’ll try to get some follow up reviews on their first two albums and Pewt'r jjjjj (side band of Causa Sui and guitarists Jørgen Teller & Ron Schneiderman of Sunburned Hand of the Man).

Images courtesy of causasui.com