From New York City comes a new sound rooted firmly in the Rock and Blues tradition. SUSU are Liza Colby and Kia Warren who teamed up to create the ultimate female powerhouse duo. Break You follows the band’s previous release Work Song. While the latter was an energy loaded protest anthem reclaiming the culture of Rock and Roll, Break You takes an emotionally charged turn. The heavy guitar riffs accompanying the two vocals are raw and unpolished contrasting the round and clear vocals. SUSU‘s debut EP Panther City will be out later this fall.
Woven into the bed of the song different melodic elements peak through, the bendy guitar reminiscent of Southern Rock’s pedal steel and the garage rock style guitar that shifts to an almost reggae influenced rhythm. All those elements are driven by the drum beat and the steady vocal performance. The power of the two voices especially shines through on the last verse when the instruments fade out to make space for a few a capella lines. Both singers take turns humming to accompany the other and their soulful vocals almost remind of gospel music, fitting the band’s description of the track as “sonic baptism by Etheric Blues of dobro and acoustic washing over you. Two powerful Black voices become one as they invoke the Mother with rhythmic compulsion; calling the pendulum back toward the feminine.”
“There IS something bigger than US. A Collective Consciousness. A Universal life force. An expansive experience. The Mother. She is the reminder that there is a fine line between comfort and happiness. She encourages us to Break the constraints of all that we have known until now. Do the Work, begin again. ‘Break You’ is the first song we ever wrote together, the cornerstone of our friendship, creative partnership and foundation on which we built SUSU. It marked the death of our Egos and the birth of USUS.”
Every Monday we’re updating the 50-track-strong Listen AHEAD Playlist on Spotify, adding ten strong songs by sill relatively unknown artists at the beginning. This week’s new picks also include fresh songs from Shelter Boy, Hannah’s Little Sister, Loaver, Famous Letter Writer, Florence Arman and more exciting new artists. Follow the playlist right here on Spotify and give these new talents a chance.