Dakota Suite and Quentin Sirjacq – The Indestructibility of the Already Felled – Album Review
by Killian Laher

The latest album from Dakota Suite is something of a mixed blessing.  Mixed in that mainman Chris Hooson has announced that this will be the last album they will release.  This album is a kind of summation of all the music Dakota Suite have made, and is as good a place as any to start.  Much of the music was written with French pianist Quentin Sirjacq.  It opens with the piano-based Safe Within Your Arms, a glacially-paced brooding track framed by Hooson’s sad, soft voice.

Large portions of the album are piano-based instrumentals, such as the meandering Kogarishi, These Nights Without You and What You Could Not Know.  The foreboding yet serene Silences Are All The Words I Have is excellent, if a little short at two and half minutes.  On the other hand Aiseki is the most ‘out-there’ piece, straying into ambient territory with Sirjacq’s clanking percussion.

They also do a decent cover of Kathleen Edwards’ Away, turning it into a brooding piano ballad.  Hooson’s guitar doesn’t go unplayed either, on wistful acoustic & piano piece Kintusgi and My Thirst For You Is Where I Hide, the latter featuring interesting sounds on vibraphone.  Even the jazz-tinged How Scared I Am To Live features Hooson’s delicate guitar picking.

Exquisite misery as always, and a fine album to round off a quietly impressive catalogue of albums.  The best place to get it is here.

Track List –

01 safe within your arms
02 kogarashi (木枯らし)
03 silences are all the words I have
04 away
05 kintsugi (金継ぎ)
06 my thirst for you is where I hide
07 these nights without you
08 aiseki (哀惜)
09 how scared I am to live
10 what you could not know
11 kyōshū (郷愁)

Safe Within Your Arms