SUSS a New York trio who formed in 2018, are Bob Holmes (Rubber Rodeo) - mandolin/acoustic guitar/harmonica/violin/keyboards/loops, Pat Irwin (B52's) -Guitars/Ebow/Bass/Keyboards/Piano/Loops/Additional Pedal Steel and Jonathan Gregg on pedal steel. Tragedy struck when founding member Gary Leib passed suddenly in 2021, but he posthumously contributes synths/loops/good vibes to one of the album's tracks.
The band have quite an extensive catalogue starting with 2018's Ghost Box, the Chisholm Trail b/w Aurora 7”, 2019's High Line, 2020's High Line – B Sides and Promise, 2021's Night Suite (their last release with Leib), Promise Live, Heat Haze and the SUSS compilation all came out in 2022 followed by last year's collaboration with Andrew Tuttle on the track 'Rising'. The album's theme as explained by Irwin, is a reference to the fragility of the world, the lack of humanity and how out of balance it is. On that cheerful note let's see what SUSS have to offer on this, their fifth full-length album.
'Birds' starts the album in a Miles Davis fashion, the space between the notes reminiscent of that artist's pioneering work on Bitches Brew as well as Talk Talk's Post-Rock era. I can't remember who said it, but there's truth behind the idea of its not what you hear that's important, but you don't. SUSS are testament to this and subsequently allow you to fill in the details yourself thanks to the music's sparse arrangements. A bewitching opener. 'Restless' seems ironically named seeing as the vibe on it is anything but. There is lovely Folk Guitar-work going on as well as spacey ambient vibes that has one thinking Pink Floyd around the time of Ummagumma. The track is a paean to nature and feels entirely organic, a slice of meditative perfection. 'Overstory' features glorious shimmering keyboards ala The Chameleons 'Silence, Sea and Sky' giving it an 1980's Post-Punk/New Wave sheen, although this is tempered somewhat by organic sounding Guitars and Violin that tips its hat to an America in simpler, less divisive times, (especially with the prospect of yet another polarizing election on the horizon).
'Flight' again incorporates a little Post-Rock but with moments that capture the essence of Shoegaze ala Slowdive's Souvlaki and Pygmalion albums. In other words there's a tenderness and dreamy introspection that's hard, make that impossible to ignore. The music may be instrumental, but there's more emotion conveyed here than on a thousand Emo albums. 'Prey' is the album's shortest number at just over three minutes and strikes you from the off with its significantly darker tones. If 'Overstory' was the calm before the storm, then this is the aftermath with debris, hopelessness and devastation strewn everywhere. This leads us to the album's two longest tracks at over ten minutes apiece, starting with 'Beasts', a sprawling epic that recounts both the legendary Brian Eno and Kraftwerk (on the criminally overlooked Ralf und Florian when they dabbled with Ambient Kosmiche before the inevitable foray into minimalist Techno-Pop). The Droney Earth influenced sounds here are all-encompassing, like the soundtrack to an unrealized Western, sublime. Finally, 'Migration' employs a Krautrockian Motorik beat that blend effortlessly with the band's own Country roots, harmonica in tow. This track, which features fallen comrade Gary Leib (RIP), has a hypnotic, Psychedelic feel that resultantly draws the album to its perfect conclusion.
While Country/Americana can at times be a little unrelatable to a Brit like myself, Birds & Beasts truly resonated, in spades. SUSS have blended together, perfectly I might add, disparate influences and sounds and as such this is the album we all need during these unsettling, challenging times.
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