SUSS

New York-based instrumental group SUSS play a distinctive form of ambient Americana, emphasizing the droning qualities of country music and Western film scores. Combining the high-lonesome sound of pedal steel guitars and harmonicas with meditative synthesizers and loops, the group’s music owes as much to Brian Eno’s collaborations with Daniel Lanois as to the film scores of Ennio Morricone and Ry Cooder. The band’s self-released 2018 debut, Ghost Box, became a surprise underground hit and a staple of ambient playlists, leading to the band’s signing with Northern Spy. The group continued expanding on their signature sound with numerous additional releases, including 2024′s Birds & Beasts. Two of the band’s founding members, Bob Holmes and Gary Leib, were also members of the country-slanted new wave group Rubber Rodeo during the ’80s. On their first album, SUSS’ other players were pedal steel guitarist Jonathan Gregg and additional guitarists Pat Irwin (formerly of the B-52s, 8 Eyed Spy, and the Raybeats) and William Garrett. Ghost Box, the first SUSS release, was originally issued through the band’s own E.V.P. Recordings in early 2018. The seven-track recording immediately gained an online following and received several excellent reviews. Northern Spy gave the album an expanded reissue later in the year, which only added to its acclaim. Non-album 7″ single “Chisholm Trail” appeared in 2019, preceding the band’s darker second full-length, High Line. A more spacious third effort, Promise, was released near the end of 2020. Garrett left the band shortly before the album was recorded, and Leib passed away after the 2021 EP Night Suite was recorded. SUSS continued as a trio, releasing two more EPs, Heat Haze and Winter Was Hard, in 2022. The double album SUSS arrived at the end of the year, containing the three EPs as well as a fourth titled Across the Horizon. “Rising,” a half-hour piece with Andrew Tuttle, was released by Longform Editions in 2023. Birds & Beasts, the fifth SUSS album on Northern Spy, appeared in 2024, with the band’s stark landscapes populated by the creatures, cycles, and rhythms of the world around them. ~ Paul Simpson