SUN - I Can See Our House From Here

A Closer Listen

I Can See Our House From Here is the prototypical Alien Transistor LP: bright-toned, with pop-like art and a hint of nostalgia.  On the cover, inside jokes and references abound: a banana taped to a wall, a barrel of monkeys, an angry apple. Andi Haberl has been recording for many years as a member of Notwist, Alien Ensemble and other bands, but this is the drummer’s first solo album.

Although the LP is upbeat, at times reminiscent of múm’s happiest years, its origin is rather sad.  After the artist’s parents split up, they sold the house he grew up in.  After this, he was only able to reminisce from a “proverbial hill.”  I Can See Our House From Here is an attempt to reconcile the feelings of one’s childhood with the acknowledgments of adulthood, while retaining – or rediscovering – a sense of childlike innocence; as Haberl writes, “to find the vibe that made you.”

Any album that starts with banjo and trumpet is going to have a very hard time staying sad, so from the start the listener knows brighter days are coming.  If one were to predict a subsequent instrument, it would be the glockenspiel; and lo! there is glockenspiel.  “Missing” is a wide-open title, as it can be interpreted to mean that the artist is missing from the home, or that the artist is missing the home, or that there’s simply something missing and Haberl is on a journey to find it.  And if there are monkeys and parrots, angels and apples on this journey, all the better.

The path is littered with colorform objects and toys.  We connect our childhoods with objects as much as we do with people.  A child’s first musical instrument may be a toy piano or plastic horn.  The suggestion of these objects, strewn about a playroom, is woven into the music.  “Low” starts off low and ends up high, as if class has let out for recess or nap time has given way to play.  From where do these crescendos arise?  They burst from the hearts of children in moments of wonder and grace.  Haberl’s self-given task is to prove that they are not restricted to children.

The synthesized patterns of the title track sound like sunbeams glittering on glass; a reflection of the moniker SUN.  (In contrast, consider Sunn O))), whose name is pronounced the same way, but whose music suggests an eclipse.)  The chopped vocals of “Daydream” provide the sense that the artist has returned home, made his peace, and traveled back to his new home while carrying a miniature home in his heart.  This clouds are stuck to the trees; the monkeys come out to play. (Richard Allen)