Rebreather is a Stoner Rock band from Ohio, U.S.A. Sunflower is their fifth release. This album contains eight great songs and many of these songs are really heavy. Sometimes there is even a pinch of Post Rock present. Rebreather is a great band and Sunflower is the proof of that. My favorites are: Sun Cancer and Migraine. Enjoy!
If you were to make a short list of all the almost-was bands that have flirted with greatness before stumbling off into obscurity, Rebreather would make it onto the top five. They certainly had the songs and their live performances showed they could hold their own. Shame their touring schedule was sporadic at best and pretty much localized to lower Ohio. Sometime around 2004, after releasing a split with fellow “Man, they were something back then” act Starchild, Rebreather sputtered to a halt and splintered into a couple other groups that never amounted to more than minor MySpace buzz.
What those other projects missed was Rebreather's alluring way of bridging the post-rock aesthetic of Neurosis and Isis with the simplistic, direct approach of hardcore and coating it with emotive pop without making it seem like either a haphazard mish-mash or a derivative mess. Songs like Need Another Seven Astronaut's “Ropeladder/Seedspreader,” Half Speed Ahead's “Lungbrace,” and “Matter Vacuum” from the Starchild vs. Rebreather split laid it all out in the open, emotionally raw and unapologetic about it.
It may have taken the band six years and a new drummer to finally release a proper follow-up to 2002's Need Another Seven Astronauts (Half Speed was a compilation of two earlier EPs, and as far as I know, 2006's Finale was never officially released), but it's worth it. The eight songs on Sunflower fit in perfectly in the Rebreather cannon. The band's commendable traits are in full effect, from the pummeling, swirling drive of “Sun Cancer,” “Loveseat,” “Sugarcord,” and “Anthem” to the plaintive angst of “Pen Pal” and “Migrane” to the epic pop-sludge of “Nofalsesuns” (a Lungfish cover, although it sounds unmistakably like Rebreather) and instrumental closer “Wormcharmer.” “Pen Pal” in particular deserve mention, thanks to its heightened melody and tense, controlled delivery. With its tortured chorus of “All I said was wrong,” “Pen Pal” falls in the same category as those past greats listed above. "Wormcharmer" is another strong track and ends the album on a (morosely) high note.
Essentially, Sunflower's a success start to finish. It's good to have Rebreather back. Recommended.
(By John Pegoraro at StonerRock.com)
Rebreather - Sunflower (2007)
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