CAUSA SUI

Coming from Odense, Denmark, CAUSA SUI was formed in 2004 and has consisted of Jess Kahr (bass), Jakob Skøtt (drums, percussion), Jonas Munk (guitar, keyboards, electronics, vocals) and Rasmus Rasmussen (keyboards, electronics) ever since. The only other member the band has had was vocalist Kasper Markus who appeared on the band's first two albums before leaving the band to become an instrumental psychedelic rock band from then on. Known for their abstract instrumental sounds that mined the early psych years of Krautrock, British psych and other artists like Miles Davis' experimental period, CAUSA SUI started out as a guitar-oriented heavy psych band with vocals.

Probably most famous for their "Summer Sessions" series which began after Markus departed, this debut and the following "Free Ride" showcase the band with a very interesting mix of heavy psych, stoner rock and psychedelia all stitched together in the form of lengthy jams and extended musical motifs. This eponymous debut came out in 2005 and showcases the band in its earliest years when it implanted heavy guitar riffs accompanied by groovy ethnic sounds, psychedelic electronica and hypnotic cyclical riffing sessions. This album is a true throwback to the spaced out acid rock scene of the late 1960s bringing Hendrix inspired riffs with a Black Sabbath sort of heaviness. Even vocalist Kasper Markus sounds a bit like an early Ozzy Osbourne at times.

Nobody would ever guess that CAUSA SUI comes from Denmark with this early debut. In fact it sounds more like something from the Palm Springs area of California. Think Kyuss and related projects like Queens of the Stone Age, Desert Sessions, Across The River and many others and that's the vibe that's achieved on CAUSA SUI's heavy psych debut. However there have been many a stoner rock band from around the world. Think New Jersey's Monster Magnet, Germany's Colour Haze. Well, CAUSA SUI pretty much fits into the main gist that most of these bands share in common, namely extended jamming sessions that are gussied up with various guitar tones, reverb and distortion. Electronic accompaniments that offer psychedelic escapism and a receptive groove that even those tripping their brains out can follow.

Although the procession of these jams are lengthy and repetitive, the melodies remind me of various other influences. The opening "Ventura Freeway" sounds like some lost artifact from early Black Sabbath that happened to be heavy psych band rather than an early heavy metal band. At other moments such as "Tornado Eye" The Cult comes to mind with melodies reminding me of their album "Sonic Temple" but accompanied by a harmonica. The grooves are based in blues rock not too far from what Jimi Hendrix was cranking out back in the day but the electronics and other instrumentation which even includes a harp offer some unexpected surprises. The music on this debut is fairly energetic but soft lulling moments occur as well especially as intros.

At an hour's length of playing time, CAUSA SUI's debut is not a quick listen. This is one where you just sit and surrender to and let the music flow organically bit by bit. There's nothing really jarring on here like complex compositions or over the top progginess. It's fairly simple in nature and becomes more complex with the overlap of various musical counterpoints. Overall not a bad heavy psych beginning for these Danes who would go on to craft much more intricately designed instrumental psychedelic rock. I rather like these early albums as they offer a lot more variety than the average stoner rock jamming experience but yet don't get bogged down in too much complexity. This is just a sit and let it soak in type of album. Expect lots of acid fuzz guitars, wild feedback and echoey clean tones. Very cool.

3.5 but i'll flip a coin as to whether to round up or down. OK, up.

Denmark's Causa Sui returns in 2020 with Szabodelico, which marks a a slight change in direction from their 2017 release, Vibraciones Doradas. Where that LP saw the band further embracing their early, heavy stoner rock roots, Szabodelico features the band mellowing out - sort of.

Szabodelico finds the band concentrating on the atmospheric, spacey style that has been a consistent part of their sound since the Summer Sessions records. Now, however, guitarist Jonas Munk completely avoids the bass-heavy, stoner riffs that interpolated their music in the past. The majority of the time his guitar sound is clean, with mostly reverb being the main treatment employed. Only on the the title track does Munk turn up the distortion a bit and lean towards a heavy psych sound, but never goes full-on stoner rock. That's not to say that the whole LP is placid, laid-back space rock. The band stays uptempo and energetic on several tracks. In fact, there are many rocking parts that could have included the heavy riffs of yore, but they just don't go there. Two songs also include flute, giving off a nice 70's vibe while still avoiding sounding dated.

I must admit that when first listening to Szabodelico I was a bit thrown off. At various points on the disc I was anticipating Munk to hit the distortion petal and lay into some heavy riffage and when it didn't happen, I felt a bit let down. After a few more spins though, I came to fully appreciate what the band was doing, and embraced their recent approach. Another plus is the record's recording/production and mastering. Their previous effort, Vibraciones Doradas, suffered from a thin sounding production, but Szabodelico (CD version) sounds rich, warm, and spacious on my hifi system.

So, Szabodelico does follow a slightly different formula than albums past, but it still sounds like Causa Sui. If you already like the band, you will most likely enjoy this new album. If you tend to dislike heavy stoner riffs, but like instrumental psychedelic rock, you may want to check this one out as well. Another excellent release from a band deserving much more recognition than it gets. A solid 4 stars.

Denmark's Causa Sui started out as a somewhat typical stoner rock band in the early 2000's, but came into their own with the release of the Summer Sessions. Following their second album, Free Ride, the band dropped their vocalist and changed direction in their sound. While they never completely lost their stoner rock roots, the band began to stretch out into new sonic territories for Volume 1. The album's opening track, "Visions of Summer," is my favorite piece from the band. It is a 24+ minute journey into an auditory summer paradise. Trippy Krautrock grooves, cool jazz guitar workouts, Kyuss worshiping riffage, Hendrix inspired guitar solos, and spacey atmospheric soundscapes float in and out, up and down. Stunning. The rest of Volume 1, as well as Volumes 2 and 3 continue to follow suit, which occasionally features stinging free-jazz saxophone blasts as well. The result is the best 3 album package of modern instrumental psychedelic rock in the past 10 years, at least. The Summer Sessions is when Causa Sui found its musical footing, and never looked back. If you dig this style of music you really should own the Summer Sessions - all three volumes. I consider this collection to be truly essential for lovers of all that is psychedelic. A solid 5 stars.

Following the release of the three volume The Summer Sessions in 2008 and 2009, instrumental psychedelic/space rock band, Causa Sui, pushed the boundaries of their sound even further for the first two volumes of the Pewt'r Sessions. Originally released separately, and only on vinyl in 2011, the band released them both on CD in 2012 as a package deal. The band had clearly established itself as one of the premier psych bands in Europe with the release of the Summer Sessions, and now they found themselves stretching out even further into the cosmos with the Pewt'r Sessions. The album features long, tripped-out, musical adventures heavily influenced by the repetitive Krautrock styles of Can and Agitation Free. Jonas Munk's guitar is drenched in reverb and wah-wah petal resin, jamming over the band's way-out grooves. This is not music for the faint of heart, but it does grow on you if you have the patience to take it all in. It took a while, but once I "got it," there was no going back. If you are unfamiliar with the band, I would not recommend these albums to start with (try Europie Tide). That being said, Causa Sui's volumes 1 and 2 of the Pewt'r Sessions are prime examples of intense, modern psychedelic/space rock. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 after repeated listens.

If you consider yourself a psychedelic/space rock connoisseur, you need some Causa Sui in your music collection. While 2013's Europie Tide is not the band's best album, it is the best place to start. Now, that's not to say it's not great, because it is pure psychedelic greatness. The band's sound is a mixture of like-minded genres: late 60's to early 70's psychedelic rock, Krautrock, 90's stoner rock, post-rock, to name a few. On Europie Tide, Causa Sui's sound is more condensed and fine-tuned compared to much of what came before it, which is perfect for newcomers. There is a perfect balance of heavy, stoner rock riffage and gentle, spaced-out atmospheres here, and it never feels forced or contrived. Even though it's entirely instrumental, it holds your attention and keeps you captivated. If you find yourself liking this one, I suggest moving on to all three of their "Summer Sessions," for a full-on, sonic assault of their tripped-out awesomeness. Very highly recommended, 5 stars.

Denmark's excellent psychedelic rock band's 2016 release, Return To Sky, finds the band riffing harder than it has in a while. Causa Sui is slightly revisiting it's stoner rock beginnings here, but their spacey, atmospheric tendencies have not gone away, just taken the back seat a bit. Openers "Dust Meridian" and "The Source" feature plenty of Kyuss-worthy riffs balanced by some lighter moments. The album's closing track, "Return To Sky," is the lightest, more atmospheric piece on the album, and serves as a welcome release from the fuzzed-out fervor that precedes it. The album Return To Sky echoes some of the band's 2013 release, Europie Tide, more structured style, which makes it a good start for newcomers to the band. Not their best release, but a damn good record nonetheless. 4 stars.

On first impression Return to Sky is one of those albums that I found myself really enjoying, but had a hard time with considering this as a "progressive album of the year" candidate. Primarily because the feeling I got from the album was that of a desert / Stoner Rock album. Particularly with the parallels I found between this album and Kyuss' Welcome to Sky Valley, a name that is strikingly samiliar. And it's not just the name itself that conjures this feeling. The very moment the sludgy, occasionally phasered, Proto-metal guitars start in the image of that early-nineties-retrograde approach sets in. But several listens drove home the expanses of undistorted psychedelic ambiance (quite a bit more reverb use),  use of keys, more non-power chord guitar work and the fact that it's an instrumental album. These originally seemed like minor differences to my ear but ultimately gave the album a more individual texture without disarming that raw intensity that caused me to draw those original comparisons. In fact, Return to Sky comes close at times, but does not fall into the structurally ambiguous "jam band" trap I find detracts me from enjoying many artists in the psychedelic/space rock sub-genre. And whether the aforementioned similarities I hear to Kyuss are homage or just coincidence does not make the album less enjoyable. Much like the similarities to Black Sabbath make Kyuss less enjoyable.

I very much enjoy listening to Return to Sky . Though I would stop short of calling it an excellent addition to any prog rock music collection. I very rarely (almost never) say this, but I believe this is the type of album that would definitely benefit from vocals. Good album, 3 stars.

I've been following this band for a few years (since their Summer Sessions), and each subsequent release gets better and better. Causa Sui's music is a jammy kind of space-rock that owes equal debt to Grateful Dead's Dark Star and Pink Floyd's Echoes. Songs on the aforementioned Summer Sessions recording were unafraid to stretch out to 20 minutes or more. Here, on Return to Sky, the main thing that strikes the listener is how condensed the music has become. The entire album is a mere forty-five minutes which fits very comfortably on a single LP. It consists of 5 tracks each averaging about 9 minutes. This pattern of slimming down is carried on throughout the tunes themselves, as each song is a tightly constructed journey. However, the path is far from linear as each song travels through a number of different soundscapes from Hawkwindish hard riffing to jazz-inflected float-y soundscapes reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's spaced out passages on 1983/Moon Turn the Tides. All of which Causa Sui had previously demonstrated their capability at doing on previous releases. On Return to Sky, however, all of the band's qualities get distilled into a powerful offering with little in the way of fat. I'd highly recommend this release for fans of Spacerock.

CAUSA SUI are a Psychedelic band out of Denmark, yes the same country that brought us our own Guldbamsen. There's very little information that comes with this cd, not even what instruments the guys play but I like the cover art.

I was taken aback when I first heard the first song "Homage" as I wasn't expecting something so heavy. It starts out fairly subdued but that changes quickly as this heavy duty soundscape takes over reminding me of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS at their heaviest or the Dutch band 35007's "Liquid" recording. "The Juice" opens with electronics coming and going then a full sound kicks in. It does settle back but not for long as contrasts continue. The guitar is grinding it out before 3 minutes then he's ripping it up after 4 minutes as the drums pound away. I love when it settles down before 5 minutes, beautiful. "Echo Springs" has this beat with bass and guitar as background organ and electronics help out. A pleasant and enjoyable song. "Boozehound" is the only song I can't get into at all. I just don't like the rhythm or flavour of it. Sure it's catchy but i'm not a fan.

"Mireille" becomes fairly uptempo with busy drums and intricate guitar. The guitar turns powerful 2 1/2 minutes in. It settles back to that earlier sound after 4 minutes. I get a kick out of how busy the drummer is on this track even during the more laid back passages. "Fichelscher Sun" is a short piece with intricate guitar expressions as another guitar is strummed. "Ju-Ju Blues" is my favourite track on here. The guitar and especially the organ sounds are so uplifting to me. A sudden change after 1 1/2 minutes as it all turns powerful including some killer guitar before 3 minutes that lights it up until around 5 1/2 minutes when the song returns to that earlier sound. Nice. "Sota El Cel" is a short atmospheric piece that builds then settles back late. It almost sounds like mellotron here. "Euporie" is my second favourite tune. Spacey sounds echo before it quickly kicks into gear. Love the tone of the guitar here as it also seems to echo. It does settle back but then kicks back in a minute later. Another calm before 5 minutes as this song continues to shift. It turns pretty heavy before 6 minutes and the guitar starts to solo over top at 7 minutes. Another spacey calm a minute later but then it ends heavily. What a ride. "Eternal Flow" is the chilled out finale. A laid back and drifting track with percussion, guitar and keys standing out as it changes slightly along the way. An almost dead calm 8 minutes in to the end.

The album came in like a lion but went out like a lamb. 4 stars for this psychedelic offering from Denmark.

Here's my second Causa Sui review. Causa Sui is a Danish psychedelic band which has done nine studio albums in nine years so I consider them productive. But during three of these years they didn't release anything.

Perhaps a year ago I listened to Euporie Tide and really liked what I heard, I found that it was intelligent music. Their ninth record "Pewt'r Sessions 3" from 2014 though didn't caught me in the same way. I like the retro styled cover, the colours and the feelings you get when you see it. I also like how the music goes, the feelings and the mentality it seems to be sprung from. Causa Sui is Jonas Munk on guitar, keyboards and electronics, Jess Kahr on bass and Jakob Skött on drums and percussion. A co-musician is Ron Schneiderman on guitar. The record was released a month ago.

Three songs take up this record and they are quite similar. A massive wall of sounds that goes around and around and nothing really new happens. It sounds that is is a lot of improvisation with guitar themes that are being constructed during playing. It is quite artistic when they are trying to explore their feelings trough the music rather than give us melodies, riffs and choruses. Though must I say it is too monotonic for me. I want things to happen and I miss melodies and structures here. I don't think it sounds bad and I like what I hear, but then 5 minutes would be enough, not fourty. But I am sure there are people out there who would love this. For me, it was a little disappointment from their last recording which I liked. I will give "Pewt'r Sessions 3" two stars.