SUSS: Birds & Beasts

The capability to frame certain surroundings through sound has been a hallmark card for SUSS. The New York three-piece have been great exponents of finding inspiration from afar, leaving their immediate environment behind for the desolate vast American landscape. Ultimately, it makes SUSS’s music an escapist proposition.

The now three-piece consisting of Bob Holmes (mandolin, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, violin, keyboards), Jonathan Gregg (pedal steel, dobro) and Pat Irwin (electric guitars, national guitar, EBow, harmonium, keyboards, melodica, loops), have spent the last six years guiding their listenership through a rolling mist of majesty. Pioneers of the ambient country movement, it has seen them unveil a raft of albums and EPs, all of which are like an endorphin rush to combat the anxiety and unease this world has to offer. Again, that escapist quality.

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SUSS’s ability to paint pictures through sound is another key feature of theirs. Soft brushstrokes where the imagery of vast lands adds to their slow-motion grace. It’s seen SUSS explore the emotional well on deeper levels than most, and on their latest full-length, Birds & Beasts, they add brooding new layers to their evolving sound world.

It’s evident from the first moment of opening track, Birds. Gregg’s warped pedal steel drifts through the speakers like a veil of smoke, as wandering guitars and sparse keys bubble underneath the mix, creating a narcotic energy that has you instantly locked in.

Following is the lurching dreamscape that is Restless. Worlds away from the New York hustle and bustle, acoustic guitars and pedal steel weave in and out, forming a mesmerising constellation of sound. If ever there was a score to Jane Smiley’s 100 Years Trilogy, then this is it.

The sullen strings and the stirring echoes of pedal steel on Overstory sees the trio’s wandering to new corners of their creative reserve, and it’s here where they continue to explore on Flight. Perhaps one of the most song-based movements they’ve written, Flight is tailor-made for cinema, conjuring up the same imagery of freedom that is afforded on Restless.

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It’s a contrast to Prey, which is where things take a sudden turn. With its unsettling, undergirded drones, like Beasts (both indicative of their namesakes), SUSS scour across those similar dark frontiers Danny Paul Grody was inspired by on his latest LP, Arc of Night. Heavy, greyscale sonics that spell danger, and it leads into the album’s closing track, Migration. Stirring, contemplative passages that occupy the space been hope and dread, making it a piece symbolic of these times. While their blend of hazy escapism and ultimate grandeur can’t be dispute, the backend of Birds & Beasts finds SUSS going deeper into the vortex than they ever have before.

Birds and beasts are crucial figures in the landscapes that inspire SUSS’s existence, but on the flipside, these could be considered composites that signify the gloom that lies ahead. Where political elections, for better or worse, could change the course of our immediate future, and while SUSS may not immediately be considered a political band, Birds & Beasts is as close as they’ve ever come to being one. Just not in the way most people think.

While remaining tied to their escapist ways, SUSS become a crucial player in combating the morbid realities in the months and years ahead. Where those same open roads and that same tumbleweed across the sun-cracked terrains could all form as the metropolis we all desire. That very same metropolis that has inspired SUSS to do what they do best.

Birds & Beasts is out Friday via Northern Spy. Purchase from Bandcamp.