Reviews
Sporting the vibrancy and texture of Aloha, the austere considerations of Death Cab for Cutie, and occasionally the elaborate, amped-out finesse of Silversun Pickups, Our Future Selves most invigorating moments like “Better Hallway Vision” and “Traffic Hymn” bristle and spark with an air of divinity while remaining firmly grounded.
– BIG TAKEOVER
Shuteye Unison performs like a band more famous than it probably is; they’ve got this arena rock confidence that’s channeled through an eclectic use of modern genre tinkering. (7.6/10 stars)”
– HEAR WAX MEDIA
San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison have come a long way from their post-punk daze. Here’s the title track from Our Future Selves that can best be described as a enigmatic dose of rock. Big word we know but it is what happens when music is distilled this well. You’ll be a fan if you like Silver Pick-ups or that Canadian Broken Social Scene. Awesome record.
– REVIEW STALKER
All in all, with their second album, Shuteye Unison has achieved a genuine triumph. There are no smoke and mirrors to be found here. This is the real thing.
– MUZIKREVIEW.COM
Shuteye Unison, Our Future Selves. “Post-rock” may be the preferred descriptor for anything that lacks traditional structure, but this sophomore effort from San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison is as rock as it gets.
– EAST BAY EXPRESS
Featuring a couple of guys from the Three Mile Pilot-esque The Rum Diary (GR Transmission 49), this band could probably get by on post rock instrumentals if it wanted to. Their epic brand of guitar-driven rock takes its time building up in intensity, piling on riff after rift to construct mountains out of deserts, skyscrapers out of suburbs.
– GIANT ROBOT
On their second full album, the San Francisco-based quartet Shuteye Unison perform a kind of spiky, romantic/post-punk-flavored indie rock that is at once part of the continuum and a little outside it.
– ALL MUSIC
Recalling Silversun Pickups, the Jealous Sound and maybe even a dash of Sonic Youth circa Daydream Nation, San Francisco, Calif.’s Shuteye Unison has crafted a record at once expansive and catchy. Our Future Selves deals in ambience and mood, and while the lengthy song structures might be a turnoff for some, generally the record succeeds in crafting a dreamy soundscape. This is quality 3 a.m. music.
– PUNK NEWS
Talk about evolution. Since we last heard from the folks in Shuteye Unison things have obviously changed quite a bit. And fortunately all of the changes are positive. We liked the band’s last release, but it didn’t prepare us for Our Future Selves. This album is more melodic…much more focused…and overall much more accessible.Z
– BABY SUE
The first time I hit play on Our Future Selves, the new album from Shuteye Unison, what immediately struck me about the opening riff of opening track “Be Kimball” was that it was way different from how the band’s last album started. The opening track of that album — the band’s self-titled debut LP — creeps in slowly with a wall of warm ambient noise. Back then I thought that was a boldly arty way to start an album. Like any good artist, the band seems to be deliberately confounding expectations with the opening of their new album.
– WIRETAP MUSIC
Shuteye Unison really have a handle on what they’re doing, and what they’re doing is both inventive and interesting. Fans of both indie and post-rock will be drawn to this, and even if you think you’re a fan of one but not the other it’s likely you’ll still enjoy “Our Future Selves”.
– ROCK FREAKS
Our Future Selves demands your attention. It grabs your inner ear, your brain, and your imagination and insists you go on the journey with them. What waits around the next corner is a mystery until you actually approach it, and still, it seems to change with each listen. A remarkable album.
– THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Harmonious, up-tempo, and fun are a few words that come to mind when listening to Shuteye Unison’s “Out Future Selves.” The album features well-crafted indie rock tunes that should stand the test of time. Stand out tracks include “Our Future Selves,” and “Traffic Hymn.”
– SINISTER GIRLZ
A most unusual album. It’s hard to be both this kinetic and this quiet. That’s an impressive achievement. I like the way these folks roll.
– A&A
It’s shoegazer music without being shoegazer – it’s edgier than that, a little more indie and a little more experimental. But it’s very atmospheric, very swirly, very noisy, and very melodic, all at once. I’ve listened to this album about 4 or 5 times by now, and each time I like it even better than before.
– JERSEY BEAT
On Our Future Selves, the guys married those Explosions In The Sky-type textures to some sleek indie-rock sensibilities. When you factor in the vocals that appear on nearly each track, the result is at times a completely new act.
– DRYVETYME ONLYNE
Shuteye Unison combine the best in melodic pop and artsy post-rock without sacrificing or abusing the quality of either. “Our Future Selves” is brilliant and disorienting, in the way you react to any band that comes out of nowhere and sounds like they’ve been speaking your language all your life.
– FOXY DIGITALIS
Shuteye Unison build upon the work they did in TRD and come back with rhythmic bases that pleasantly inch along in the same melodic manner that you’d expect from a band like Braid. When the vocals and guitars come in, it’s nearly an amalgamation of the best parts of the Shipping News meeting up with Mineral for a jam session. Yes, definitely something worth checking out.
– LOUD FARM
Full of dreamy, textured, post-punk/rock soundscapes, this sophomore effort is another compelling look into SHUTEYE UNISON’S ability to pen delicated yet charged, hushed yet bubbling with intensity. Great enough to draw parallels to Fugazi, Sonic Youth or Local H, yet still walking a path uniquely their own, SHUTEYE UNISON score another excellent disc.
– THE BYKE RACK
There is no better title for shuteye unison’s sophomore release. this record is an amazing step forward & into uncharted territory for these four san francisco post-punkers. taking the intense & brooding tone from last year’s self titled release, our future selves then adds an urgent & almost frantic energy to their already well established sound. the songs are more upbeat & high tempo, just on the edge of power punk fury.
– CHIDDY THE KIDD
San Francisco’s Shuteye Unison feel familiar. As soon as you turn on their new album Our Future Selves, you are met by the calm dreamy tones of shoegaze and some of the harsher tonality often associated with noise rock and some post punk.
– COSMOS GAMING
Shuteye Unison deserve massive praise for the grand ambitions behind Our Future Selves. It’s a dense (but never indiscernible) forest of intelligent postrock where some aspects work flawlessly while others leave me reaching for the aspirin and hitting the “next” button on the CD player.
– STEREO SUBVERSION.COM
Our Future Selves is a very, very interesting record. I think that’s why I like it so much. Even though I can recommend it towards similar bands, it honestly doesn’t sound like ANYTHING else. It’s really hard to be this original and not sound like a.) shit b.) assholes c.) all of the above. But these boys manage to do it. It’s a very light, mellow, and slow record. It makes me feel like I am on drugs.
– IDLE AND THE BEAR
Overall, this is an impressive album. The recording is excellent, bringing to mind the careful and precise production that Brian Paulson did on Fin Fang Foom’s Monomyth. This is an album to listen to on headphones, so that you can hear all of the various layers playing against each other.
The band also really know what they are doing, and if Camouflagers is an indication, they can go really far.
– EVIL SPONGE
For vinyl specifically, Our Future Selves is one of those rare finds that keeps on surprising you. The drums reverberate, the bass drives most of the songs through your speakers, and all the dramatic shimmers of guitar that could end up in the background actually sparkle.
– RATHER YOU THAN HER
Space is an important element in SeU’s music. Unlike the typical shoegaze sound established by bands like My Bloody Valentine elements are constantly added and taken away. Melodies are allowed to breathe before walls of beautiful noise are built up and then pulled away again, leaving the listener with a sense of movement that most contemporary music lacks.
– RAEN PAYNE
Taking some of the best elements from garage rock, grunge, and all sides of the rock spectrum, Shuteye Unison finds a groove and cultivates it well here. A great disc that brings to mind the ‘alternative rock’ explosion from the early to mid 90’s, yet with an updated contemporary feel, this is an excellent display of driving, sometimes haunting guitar driven rock.
– GO211