WFA: Sunniva

Two weeks back, I attended a near-legendary local one-day festival called Riihimäki Hardcore Fest, which has been a recurring ruckus extravaganza for a few years now. The gig has featured a host of acts both local and out-of-town from various genres, albeit emphasizing the namesake hardcore leanings. This year’s installment took place in a small venue called Punainen Talo, translating to ‘The Red House’, residing somewhere between a school orchestra stage and a livingroom space. I knew beforehand that the eight bands featured this time spanned from grindcore to hardcore, from noise rock to sludge, and whatever else in-between those, yet I wasn’t exactly familiar with any of the bands. Most bands fell in line with one another, each clearly belonging to this certain place and time, though one rather unexpectedly stood out like a throbbing third eye on the forehead.

Sunniva is a post-metal/sludge/doom quartet from Turku, Finland. Up until the fest, I had never heard of them, as even the name rang zero bells when I first saw it on the flyer and posters. Having been to a multitude of small gigs throughout the year with random line-ups, I very infrequently check the bands out beforehand, and this time was no exception. The five bands on the bill that performed before them ranged from alright to good, so realistically and thruthfully, I wasn’t expecting to get my ass handed to me by surprise, which is exactly what Sunniva did.

From the first minutes onwards, we were dealt a straight flush of earth-moving aural devastation, meticulous musicianship, great songwriting, hypnotizing and ponderous ambiance, and enough details and nuances to write a book about. Needless to say, my attention was fully reserved and fixated to the band for the ensuing twenty minutes, and the compulsion to write about them here rose in an instant. I spent the following days immersed in their releases and contacted the band shortly after, who then gladly took up on my interview request. I spoke with their vocalist/guitarist Oliver Webb in length about, well, everything regarding the band from its formation to its future, and about what Sunniva in its essence actually is.

‘We met with Jaakko (drums) at our mutual workplace, and noticed we share an interest to similar types of music, so we spoke a lot about different bands, music in general, movies, etc. We both wanted to have a project that could unite all these interests of ours. In 2016 we had our first sessions, and slowly begun to develop and shape the core of Sunniva, what we want to convey with the music, and what kind of mood we want to deliver with it. This process has taken us all the way to the point where we are now. How the process continues from here on out, is also to us a constantly evolving, intriguing mystery.‘

What caught my eye (or ear) with Sunniva is the fact that while a majority of their sound could be characterised as a mix and match of sludge and doom, their sound is way, way heavier than one could perhaps normally expect from such an act, with the dynamics aplenty. The aforementioned post-metal moniker aptly suits Sunniva, but to me personally, the music overall resides on the rougher end of the spectrum, even though there’s moments of calm and purity amidst the pummeling. It all comes fluently together, as already demonstrated on their debut EP The Holy Mountain, which came out in 2017.

The Holy Mountain is a tremendous overture on all fronts, as the four tracks – running just a hair over thirty minutes – excel in back-and-forth momentum and fully fleshed-out compositions. Sunniva‘s appearance is particularly rich in nuance and colour, which the band admits to simply having a wild variety of influences:

‘The biggest factor is definitely the music we listen to ourselves, and what inspires us. Each member of the band listens to music on a very large scale, which then either purposefully or accidentally bleeds into our compositions. What’s important to us, is to create the kind of music that stays interesting and relevant to us as well, while developing our all-encompassing soundscapes further. We also want to keep an open mind and not get caught up in any particular style, but blend together an array of them in a chameleon manner. It’s integral to bring in new influences and elements to evolve.’

The Holy Mountain was followed up with the twelve-minute monolithic single This Reality Only Speaks In Blood in 2019, which added another layer to Sunniva‘s output with its droning murk and upped production value, granted that it was already on a surprisingly high level on the debut. I inquired about how the band normally set out to write songs and whether or not this has changed throughout the years:

‘Normally I bring in the base for each song, and then we together arrange each members’ parts on top of it. We try to make every aspect click and flow together so that everything serves the song the best way possible. Sometimes the song changes drastically from what it initially was, once everyone gets to influence the direction the song is taken to. The grandest moments in the process is to witness how by means of collaboration, the songs evolve to sound like Sunniva. Sometimes the inspiration is very present during the rehearsals, and a song comes together without a pre-existing base. This for example happened with “Gazing Into the Eye of the Serpent” from our latest release, though usually writing the tracks require careful preliminaries before rehearsing.‘

The aforementioned “Gazing Into the Eye of the Serpent” is the closer on Sunniva‘s latest effort, the S/T EP from 2021, running for three exquisitely vibrant, destructive tracks. The songs have a unique kind of pernicious value when mirrored to the band’s earlier doings, as it seems their inner evolution has brought them to a point where they incorporate hooks and details in an accelerating manner, and each of the songs tends to leave inconspicuous imprints on the listeners’ minds, as if reserving its own spot somewhere deep in your psyche, surfacing every now and then to force you return to the band’s yields.

Now, if you’ve read my train-of-thought rambling before, you should know that music itself doesn’t make an entirety, as lyrics, themes, and artworks are equally important when looking at any artist’s mien. With track titles such as “Nine of Swords” and “Rakshasa” from S/T, or the titular track and “Into the Lion’s Mouth” from the debut, I’ve made my own conclusions on Sunniva‘s lyrical approach, and deducted that the main focus lies on occultism and esotericism, much as the artworks, but more on the latter in a bit. Oliver’s explanations proved my interpretations correct, at least for the most part:

‘Sunniva‘s lyrics are intertwined strongly around symbolism, which on the other hand is easily linked to occultism and esoteric writings. I feel that the songs pack a tremendous amount of might, and want to bring in the type of lyrics that don’t necessarily open up right way, but is expressed with a certain kind of mystery or ritualistic elements, for an example. These things fascinate me and surely many others invested in occultist thematics.

The topics I deal with are often abstract states of emotion, that I’m meanwhile trying to explain to myself as well. When writing the lyrics for our previous release, I experienced strong anxiety over the climate change and my own inevitable part in it. The emotive state resulting from this highly influenced the lyrics, too. I find it hard to distance my own feelings and experiences from the writing process, and I think they always affect the end result of the lyrics, at least to an extent.‘

While on the topic, I mentioned above how these themes Sunniva explores seem to be carried out to the artworks and general visual appearance of the band as well, and Oliver not only echoed this but provided further similar points to mine about how a band, in essence, is a sum of its parts:

‘The visual side to Sunniva is equally important as the musical one, as this combination is usually the first thing any listener experiences while looking for new artists or bands. I think it’s important that the visual side mirrors the music, hence serving the bigger picture we aim to create with Sunniva. The symbolism present in the lyrics is also represented on the visual language. Symbols have a big role in the music world overall, and live shows for example can be sort of ‘sacred masses’ for some listeners, being an aspect I want to underline in our visuals as well. I want that the listener can experience something spiritual and a certain catharsis – a secret, that only they know of.‘

What Oliver mentioned about wanting to provide the listener with a spiritual experience, and furthermore what he said about live shows being near-ritualistic sacred masses to some people, is very much relatable. I’m definitely not alone in saying that it’s exactly these things that make an artist stand out; when they’re capable of producing a unique experience for their listener, it gets under one’s skin in an inexplicable way. It’s as if the music heard and/or act witnessed become a singular entity together with its audience, producing a mental state pretty much how Oliver put it: a secret that only you know of.

What gives these occasions their special value is of course their infrequency, and the fact that you can never know in advance when it’s going to happen. I’ve been in this situation a multitude of times, although when compared to the amount of music I’ve heard or bands I’ve seen live, their portion is rather insignificant all things considered. Sunniva is one of these few and far between acts that have been able to create such a holistic atmosphere that it’ll unquestionably remain with me from here to eternity. If you take into consideration the fact that this happened in a minor venue in rural buttfuck nowhere during a showcase of mostly half-existent bands, it’s all the more special.

It is only natural to continue on the live show aspect, so what does being able to perform live mean to Sunniva?

‘Playing live is an important portion of Sunniva‘s existence, as they’re the primary reason for people finding us and our music. The significance of loud volume is a pivotal part for the experience, and translates to the audience the best in a live setting. All the live dates were of course cancelled due to the pandemic, so we spent that time writing our first full-length. The first year of it was the most difficult, since there was no information whatsoever about how it’ll affect the entirety of the music world and its future, let alone our own. We rehearsed rarely back then, which then had an impact on our motivation as well. Luckily we’ve been able to play together again, and the said motivation has rocketed thanks to the return of live shows, and our plans with the debut album are taking major strides.‘

The effect the pandemic has had on music and art is beyond unfathomable, but for some reason it hasn’t been taken as seriously as it should have been, especially by governing bodies and those in power. How long can you just tell a ridiculous amount of people to be patient and ‘sit it out’ while not only their crafts and livelihoods are coming down crumbling, but their mental state and well-being are also taking major hits? Surely these aspects apply to the majority of people, of course, but the music world has been caught up in a particular loop of negligence, belittling, and even deprecation. That is why the apparent but not-so-factual recovery we’re globally undergoing at the moment is more or less rehabilitating, particularly to the creative world. Of course the sudden surge of live shows and traveling being an option again pose another set of potential problems, but let’s remain positive and not get too much into those now.

The return of live music has so far gotten a widely accepted and potent response, and it feels like people are only beginning to understand what kind of salience art has on their lives, on all imaginable levels. While certain cautious measures should be and are currently applied, the future does, partly, look hopeful for now. Sunniva also has their sights set on things to come, as Oliver elaborates below:

‘Next up is our final show for the year at the Bar 15 cellar in Seinäjoki on the 19th of November, after which it’s time to fully concentrate on the creation of our first full-length. Pre-productions are scheduled for the end of the year, and if our plans hold up, we’ll be recording this much crafted monolith of an album in early 2023. We’re also planning live shows to towns new to us, as performing in places like Jyväskylä, Oulu, and Tampere has evaded us thus far. Possibly some one-offs in bordering countries or even a small tour would be in its place.

For anyone in Finland (or elsewhere nearby), feel free to contact us about playing in your town! We want to extend our gratitude towards everyone who have came to our gigs and the organizing parties, and everyone who have supported us by listening to us and getting merch at the shows, it means the world to us. We have a lot of interesting ideas and projects for the future, but more about those once we get there.‘

That sounds like a wrap, doesn’t it? Go follow Sunniva on their Facebook and Instagram pages, and treat yourself some aural excellence on their Bandcamp, from where you can (and should) acquire everything you possibly can.