Craig Currie – Sullen Fury

Craig Currie is a Canadian artist from Nova Scotia, but currently residing in Toronto. He’s pretty much active on a local underground scene with a couple of releases published totally underground and beside Live at Dinos Bar & Grill live recording and recently published Shower Power EP, Sullen Fury is his debut EP which has been published as a physical release on a cassette. The tape is comprised of five compositions which have been recorded with three different line ups and it seems that Craig gathered some quite diverse musicians in order to gain various atmospheres on each track. Is The Moon Tired? and Caribou River has been recorded and mixed by Ben Brennan at Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia and the line up is comprised of Francisco Lopes on drums, Dave Burns on the guitar and Craig Currie on vocals and the guitar. No Way Out has been recorded and mixed by Mark Nunes at Spider Factory in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and beside Craig Currie who did vocals and played the guitar, Mark Nunes performed on synths, drums, bass, guitar, and did all the programming. Have It All has been recorded and mixed by Francisco Lopes at Echo Chamber in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so this line up is comprised of Evan Matthews on drums, Mark Grundy on bass, Seamus Dalton on the guitar, Josh Salter also on the guitar and Craig Currie on vocals and guitar. Come Over Again has been recorded and mixed by Dave Ewenson at Bloom Forever Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the lineup on this one consists of Noah Dalton on drums and feedback, Adam Gravelle on bass, Seamus Dalton on guitar and feedback, Josh Salter – guitar and feedback, alongside Craig Currie on vocals and guitar. Each lineup delivers different mood, but the approach to the glorious goth rock / post-punk sound is present through the whole material. The music of Craig Currie is emotive, melancholic, precise and atmospheric with dominative dark vibes. A couple of compositions such as Is The Moon Tired? and No Way Out are irresistibly reminiscent of the 80s post-punk scene with a lot of influences taken from Joy Division, but the rest of the material is directed towards alternative music scene with an edgy goth-rock sound flirting somewhere at the background. Currie’s vocals are constantly somewhere in between Ian Curtis and Peter Murphy singing style, but of course, with a personal touch added which is especially hearable in some arrangements. To be fair, Craig Currie’s music showcases monochrome, bleak, cold world which was obviously an intention of a lot of post-punk bands before, but unlike those bands, Currie has some vibrant, almost cheerful moments in his music which keeps this material dynamic, nonmonotonous and repetitively listenable all the time. Each line up on this recording has done an impressive job and all the instruments are pretty much hearable and well recorded for the standards of post-punk recordings. Sullen Fury is even better because this tape has been published in the spirit of DIY ethics and it’s limited to 50 copies only, so it gives some exclusivity to the listeners who decide to purchase it. Considering I am a big fan of both Joy Division and Bauhaus music, Sullen Fury is a brilliant debut tape in my book and I highly recommend for you to check out the rest of Craig Currie’s recordings which has been posted on his Bandcamp page.