SUSS – Birds & Beasts

SUSS’ fifth release, Birds & Beasts, on Northern Spy Records, finds the New York-based ambient trio digging deeper, populating its stark, ethereal soundscapes with primal currents of sound inspired by the cycles and rhythms of the world around us. But while conveying the power of natural forces, it also embraces occasional warm rays of hope and humanity.

“For once, it looked like the stark, vast landscapes that we had been painting before were starting to be populated with a bit of creature warmth,” says Bob Holmes (mandolin, guitar, harmonica, violin). But, he adds, “this is not Garden of Eden kind of stuff.” Pat Irwin (electric guitar, resonator guitar, keyboards) adds, “I think of the fragility of the world around us. I think of the humanity, and the lack of it. The world seems out of balance. There are birds and there are beasts.”

Birds & Beasts follows on the heels of SUSS’ acclaimed 2022 self- titled double album, cited by Pitchfork as “music that dilates the world to a high-lonesome point, a pastoral quintessence that doesn’t change so much as it gradually opens and closes, telescopes and recedes.” As in the past, the band combines ambient synths, loops and found sounds with more traditional Americana instrumentation to create what Aquarium Drunkard describes as “country music, mutated and stretched along a vast horizon — open music for open souls.”

But if the horizons here are deeper — more Gulf Stream than Grand Canyon — in the primordial pull of tracks like “Birds” and “Prey,” which imply both natural and societal disquiet, Birds & Beasts offers the freedom of celestial and terrestrial peregrinations in “Flight,” “Overstory” and “Migration.” Taking a cue from the 30-minute collaboration Rising that SUSS recently released with Australian banjoist Andrew Tuttle, the tracks on Birds & Beasts are generally longer, with fewer elements and a greater sense of space.

As always, the band’s discovery of new horizons evolved organically. When it comes to defining the next step in their journey, “the music is the articulation,” says pedal steel guitarist Jonathan Gregg. “We’re not sure where we’re going, but we know when we’ve arrived, and it’s never the same place twice.”

Indeed, some tracks simply take longer to find their way than others. “Migration,” for example, dates from the early days of the band and is the album’s sole track to feature the late Gary Leib, who passed away suddenly in 2021. “We always loved the track but we never found the right fit for it,” says Holmes. “However, as we were making what was to become Birds & Beasts, it became obvious that the track was just waiting for us to come around to its way of thinking. You just need to listen to the music closely to hear what it’s always been trying to tell you.”