reviewed by Laura Stanleyas
Material, the latest EP from Victoria’s SUSSY (Suzannah Raudaschl of Bridal Party), is like rain on your wedding day or a black fly in your chardonnay or some other lyric from Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic.” That is to say it is gloriously contradictory.
Material is a lo-fi pop record with electronic beats and bloops, soft keyboard strokes, and a guitar that move breezily from one chord to the next. The sax that wraps up “Lemonbalm,” and the EP, and the voices that spring up in “Creatures of Comparison” are particularity blissful moments. The overall effect is sunny and chill. Akin to spending a summer riding your bike from one park to the next or laying by the pool lusting after the lifeguard.
But lyrically, Material is hilariously wry and Raudaschl is so unimpressed by everything and you will relate. “Why Bother?” is a lethargic track about struggling to find the motivation to get your life together. “Revel in the ordinary, I wake up before dawn to put a load of laundry on. I want to get the stains out of all my white clothes but I used all the bleach to refresh my reputation,” Raudaschl cooly sings in a way that’s equivalent to a top bun you lazily tossed up but manages to look like it was done at a salon. The hatred of the mundane grows stronger by the next track as Raudaschl heads to the pool which you think will offer a respite from routine but instead, Raudaschl admits, “Swimming is the closest I can get to underground.”
As Material cruises on, Raudaschl dips ever so slightly into sonically bummer tones on the sparse “Creatures of Comparison” but then on “Viewfinder,” we’re back to a playful saunter in an attempt to walk off self-pity and then the smell of “Lemonbalm” wafts past you and its fragrance promises a journey that’s hopefully far away from melancholy.
But in the meantime, take the plunge into SUSSY’s discontentment.
Top Tracks: “Why Bother?”; “Chlorine”
Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good)
