Suris - Pertinax

​Suris

Pertinax
self-released; 2025

By Jamie Funk
​

Suris make the kind of music that first strikes me as elegant but grows stranger and more alluring the longer I sit with it. Pertinax is built around Lindsey Mackie’s textured, expressive vocals and the duo’s atmospheric production, drifting through art rock, dream pop, and alt-folk with a calm assurance. 

Lindsey handles the writing and keys, Dave shapes the guitars, bass, and production, and together they bend structure to mood rather than the other way around. The title, meaning “to persist stoically,” makes sense once you realize how much of this record is built by the two of them alone. Pertinax feels like a fully realized statement from artists who trust their instincts and push at the edges of their own sound.

“Mended” opens the album with a brooding swell that eventually cracks into a full rock track, complete with these gothic, bell-like textures that grabbed me right away. “Last Train Home” brings a bit of ’70s swing; I loved the rhythm section here and how the atmosphere deepens around it. “Now” moves like a ballad, its keys and orchestration merging into something soft but purposeful.

“Eruption” gives me flashes of The Beatles, especially in its buoyant melodies. It’s one of the catchiest songs here and one of the most immediate. “Whole” leans into a lush, almost orchestral elegance, while “Take All She Brings” hits with a sharper edge, carrying a Radiohead-like tension. “Huma” brings one of the record’s best sax moments, and “Still Life” taps into another distinctly ’70s palette.

“Wayman” rides on a killer groove, and “Armour of Love” carries a Bowie-style cool that never feels forced. The band doesn’t lose momentum either “Listen” hits hard, and “Born To Be With You” brings things into a more reflective place. They close with “Fugue,” a proper finale built on swirling textures and a slow-burn intensity.

​There’s a lot to latch onto in Pertinax. The mood stays shadowed, but there’s plenty of brightness threaded through it. There was a lot of attention to detail and also thought the vocals sounded unique. I came away with a sense that this is a duo fully inhabiting their sound, and the more time I spent with the album, the more there was to uncover.

Become A Fan

suris.uk

Tweet