Sula - Blinding Embarrassment with Justification

I listen to this way more than I should. I'll admit I'm a bit of a lo-fi snob, but still that's no excuse for listening to this cd as much as I do.

Sula, is Justin Huock's brain child of a band. He is the founding, and only original member. I'm pretty certain Sula has had more band members than it has had shows, and there is no chance of that statistic changing around now that Justin is a 20 year old dad and productive working member of society. As a full time adult I hope Justin can still free space in his schedule to keep creating and sharing music after having such promising start and unique style. Especially considering that he was just some young buck that should have been worried about getting boozed up instead of orchestrating every instrument of a full band when this cd came out in 2010.

I was introduced to this band when I use to work with Justin at a shitty dead end restaurant. I honestly gave his first demo next no listen. It wasn't until he moved in with me and started working on this release that I started to take his band seriously. I did my best to corrupt Justin during the short year we lived together. I would sneak him into bars and tell him to hide in the bathroom while I order him a beer, and then vouch for him when the bartender came over demanding i.d. from the wide eyed, speechless barely legal teen. We talked about planning tours, and collaborating on songs that would never happen. On more than one occasion I would try and trick Justin into staying up all night listening to shitty East coast rap on my iPod, telling him to let "future Justin" worry about getting up early for work. All my efforts hardly worked though, considering Justin moved out and got a job as a welding apprentice while I was stuck at the shitty dead end restaurant we met at several years after, and hundreds of dissatisfied customers later.

I know this cd has it's flaws, but I think that's what adds authenticity to it. From the conviction in Justin's thick Pittsburgh accent voice piercing through the shitty computer monitors they recorded on by themselves, to being heavily influenced by Modest Mouse, to the overly busy bass lines(especially in Greg the Drunk), to winy teeny backing vocals, and more. Yet I still can't stop listening to one of the most honest attempts of making original music by a couple of bored teenagers I've ever heard.

Justin's unique vocals patterns are what reel me in, and on top of that his topic ranges beyond the standard realm of sad emo songs that most kids his age would be writing.

Sula - Blinding Embarrassment with Justification