Currently comprised of Marissa Pool (vocals, guitar), Stephanie Demopulous (bass, keys) and Lisa Cameron (drums), who has played with Roky Erickson and ST37, the Austin, TX-based psych rock trio Suspirians have slowly developed a reputation for crafting material that eschew traditional verse-chorus-verse structure and shifts from section to section with arrangements that feature heavily reverbed vocals, open drumming, layers upon layers of guitar and subtle layers of synths, creating a sound that draws from an eclectic array of psych rock, punk rock and experimental rock, including Pylon, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sonic Youth, The Stooges, Frightwig, early Butthole Surfers, Roky Erickson and The Aliens, late 70s British post-punk and others.
Between the band’s self-titled debut and the sessions which resulted in their sophomore effort Ti Bon Ange, the band went through a lineup change in which their original drummer Anna Lamphear was replaced by Cameron. And as a result, the band went through a massive and radical departure in their sound and creative process — while their self-titled debut was more of a straightforward, garage rock-leaning affair, Ti Bon Ange finds the individual members “getting lost in the songs together in a sort of epic ever dream,” Marissa Pool explains. “We did not overthink of over control anything on this record. It was all about going with the flow and following our instincts.” Interestingly enough, on a certain level that shouldn’t be surprising as the Austin-based psych rock trio’s sophomore effort’s name is derived from a Haitian voodoo term that in English translates into “little good angel” — or the part of the soul that holds one’s individuality and personal qualities, and leaves the body when sleeping so you can sleep in peace; in fact, the anthemic, mosh pit friendly “Nocturne” possesses a forceful yet enveloping sound within a song structure that feels as though it twists and turns at a willful drop of a hat. But while some may hear some elements of The Stooges and Roky Erickson, I also hear a subtle hint at The Black Angels and others, as the song has a bit of a brooding undertone.
Produced by the band’s Lisa Cameron, the video features a relatively simple concept — footage of the band playing in a small club with psychedelic imagery bursting out in front of them.
